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The Celestial Sphere

The document defines key terms used in celestial navigation. The celestial sphere is an imaginary dome surrounding Earth where celestial objects appear to be located. Key points on the celestial sphere include the celestial poles, equinoctial, ecliptic, and first points of Aries and Libra. Angles such as sidereal hour angle and Greenwich hour angle are used to locate celestial objects in relation to the celestial equator and meridians. The geographical position of an object combines its declination and Greenwich hour angle. Additional terms define vertical circles, prime vertical, zenith distance, and polar distance used to locate objects relative to an observer's position.

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DENNIS JOEL HARIC
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127 views2 pages

The Celestial Sphere

The document defines key terms used in celestial navigation. The celestial sphere is an imaginary dome surrounding Earth where celestial objects appear to be located. Key points on the celestial sphere include the celestial poles, equinoctial, ecliptic, and first points of Aries and Libra. Angles such as sidereal hour angle and Greenwich hour angle are used to locate celestial objects in relation to the celestial equator and meridians. The geographical position of an object combines its declination and Greenwich hour angle. Additional terms define vertical circles, prime vertical, zenith distance, and polar distance used to locate objects relative to an observer's position.

Uploaded by

DENNIS JOEL HARIC
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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NAVIGATION

The Celestial Sphere


For the purposes of navigation, we have to assume that the earth is
the centre of the universe and that the sun, the moon, the planets
and all the stars are situated around the earth equidistantly, making
up a large sphere surrounding the earth and known as the celestial
sphere.

Celestial Poles The points on the celestial sphere right above the poles of the earth.

Equinoctial The projection of the earth’s equator onto the celestial sphere.
Referred to as the celestial equator.

Celestial Meridians Semi great circles whose planes pass through the poles cut the
equinoctial at a right angle. Referred to as hour circles.

Declination The arc of the celestial meridian passing through a heavenly body,
contained between the body and the equinoctial, measured north or
south of equinoctial. Referred as celestial latitude.

Ecliptic The great circle on the celestial sphere that represents the annual
path of the sun, whose plane inclines with the equinoctial at an angle
of 23o 27’.

First Point of Aries (Υ) The point on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic cuts the
equinoctial when the sun just passes the equinoctial from south to
north, also known as the vernal equinox position of the sun, which
occurs on 21st of March.

First Point of Libra The point on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic cuts the
equinoctial when the sun just passes the equinoctial from north
to south. Also known as the autumnal equinox position of the sun,
which occurs on 23rd of September.

Sidereal Hour Angle The arc of the equinoctial measured westward, contained between
(S.H.A.) the first point of Aries and the celestial meridian passing through
the body. Due to the movement of the first point of Aries, the S.H.A.
of the heavenly bodies also changes, but very slightly, not more than
1 minute per year.

Greenwich Hour Angle The arc of the equinoctial measured westward from the meridian of
(G.H.A.) Greenwich to the meridian passing through the body. In the Nautical
Almanac, the G.H.A.s of the first point of Aries, the sun, the moon and
some planets are given. The G.H.A. for stars can be found by adding
the S.H.A. of a particular star to the G.H.A. of the first point of Aries;
if it’s greater than 360°, then 360o is subtracted.

= S.H.A. + G.H.A.Aries
G.H.A.

CAPT. KHAN THE SHIP OFFICER’S HANDBOOK


NAVIGATION

Local Hour Angle The arc of the equinoctial measured westward from the observer’s
(L.H.A.) meridian to the meridian passing through the celestial body.

= G.H.A. − West Longitude


L.H.A.
= G.H.A. + East Longitude
L.H.A.

Geographical Position The geographical position of the heavenly body is defined by the
of the body (G.P.) declination and the G.H.A. of the body.

Zenith The point on the celestial sphere directly above the observer,
denoted by Z. The point is also on the celestial sphere, but is opposite
from Zenith and is called Nadir; however, nadir is not significant in
navigation.

Vertical Circles The great circles on the celestial sphere that pass through the zenith.
The observer’s meridian is one of the great circles.

Prime Vertical The vertical circle that passes through the East and West points of
the horizon.

Zenith Distance The arc of the vertical circle contained between the body and the
zenith.

Polar Distance The arc of the celestial meridian contained between the body and
the pole.

Circumpolar Bodies The bodies that are visible above the horizon for the full 24 hours.
For a body to be circumpolar, two conditions must be met:

1. The declination of the body must have the same name as the
observer’s latitude.

2. The polar distance of the body must be less than the observer’s
latitude.

CAPT. KHAN THE SHIP OFFICER’S HANDBOOK

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