| Revision as of 19:19, 19 April 2005 editIcairns (talk | contribs)76,837 edits categ Physical quantity -> Angle← Previous edit | Revision as of 10:11, 30 April 2005 edit undoMargosbot~enwiki (talk | contribs)6,843 editsm +pl:Next edit → | ||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
| {{astro-stub}} | {{astro-stub}} | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| Line 15: | Line 18: | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| ] | |||
| ] | ] | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
| ⚫ | ] | ||
Revision as of 10:11, 30 April 2005
Right ascension (RA; symbol α: Greek letter alpha) is the astronomical term for one of the two coordinates of a point on the celestial sphere when using the equatorial coordinate system. The other coordinate is the declination. RA is comparable to longitude, measured from a zero point known as the vernal equinox point. RA is measured in hours, minutes, and seconds. Being closely tied with sidereal time, it is both a unit of time and of angle. An hour of right ascension is equal to 15 degrees of arc, a minute of right ascension equal to 15 minutes of arc, and a second of right ascension equal to 15 seconds of arc. An alternative measure, used in navigation, is Sidereal Hour Angle. The main difference being that RA is measured Eastward, and SHA is measured Westward.
RA can be used to determine a star's location and to determine how long it will take for a star to reach a certain point in the sky. For example, if a star with RA = 01:30:00 is at your meridian, then a star with RA = 20:00:00 will be in the meridian 18.5 sidereal hours later.
See also
 | This astronomy-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |