Azimuth - Astronomy

Astronomy

Used in celestial navigation, an azimuth is the direction of a celestial body from the observer. In astronomy, an azimuth is sometimes referred to as a bearing. In modern astronomy azimuth is nearly always measured from the north. In former times, it was common to refer to azimuth from the south, as it was then zero at the same time that the hour angle of a star was zero. This assumes, however, that the star (upper) culminates in the south, which is only true for most stars in the Northern Hemisphere.