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In astronomy, the altitude in the horizontal coordinate system and the zenith angle are complementary angles, with the horizon perpendicular to the zenith. The astronomical meridian is also determined by the zenith, and is defined as a circle on the celestial sphere that passes through the zenith, nadir, and the celestial poles .
The elevation is the signed angle from the x-y reference plane to the radial line segment OP, where positive angles are designated as upward, towards the zenith reference. Elevation is 90 degrees (= π / 2 radians) minus inclination. Thus, if the inclination is 60 degrees (= π / 3 radians), then the elevation is 30 degrees ...
ICAO further defines: elevation: "the vertical distance of a point or a level, on or affixed to the surface of the earth, measured from mean sea level." [2] I.e., elevation would be the altitude of the ground or a building.
The horizontal coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system that uses the observer's local horizon as the fundamental plane to define two angles of a spherical coordinate system: altitude and azimuth. Therefore, the horizontal coordinate system is sometimes called the az/el system, [1] the alt/az system, or the alt-azimuth system, among
x′-y′-z′ or x 1-y 1-z 1 (after first rotation) x″-y″-z″ or x 2-y 2-z 2 (after second rotation) X-Y-Z or x 3-y 3-z 3 (final) For the above-listed sequence of rotations, the line of nodes N can be simply defined as the orientation of X after the first elemental rotation. Hence, N can be simply denoted x′.
Using the x-convention, the 3-1-3 extrinsic Euler angles φ, θ and ψ (around the z-axis, x-axis and again the -axis) can be obtained as follows: = (,) = = (,) Note that atan2( a , b ) is equivalent to arctan a / b where it also takes into account the quadrant that the point ( b , a ) is in; see atan2 .
Pressure altitude is the elevation above a standard datum air-pressure plane (typically, 1013.25 millibars or 29.92" Hg). Pressure altitude is used to indicate "flight level" which is the standard for altitude reporting in the U.S. in Class A airspace (above roughly 18,000 feet).
The process of drawing the altitude from a vertex to the foot is known as dropping the altitude at that vertex. It is a special case of orthogonal projection. Altitudes can be used in the computation of the area of a triangle: one-half of the product of an altitude's length and its base's length (symbol b) equals the triangle's area: A = h b /2 ...