Horizontal Coordinate System

The horizontal coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system that uses the observer's local horizon as the fundamental plane. This coordinate system divides the sky into the upper hemisphere where objects are visible, and the lower hemisphere where objects cannot be seen since the earth is in the way. The great circle separating hemispheres is called celestial horizon or rational horizon. The pole of the upper hemisphere is called the zenith. The pole of the lower hemisphere is called the nadir.

The horizontal coordinates are:

  • Altitude (Alt), sometimes referred to as elevation, is the angle between the object and the observer's local horizon. For visible objects it is an angle between 0 degrees to 90 degrees.
  • Azimuth (Az), that is the angle of the object around the horizon, usually measured from the north increasing towards the east. Exceptions are, for example, ESO's FITS convention where it is measured from the south increasing towards the west, or the FITS convention of the SDSS where it is measured from the south increasing towards the east.
  • Zenith distance, the distance from directly overhead (i.e. the zenith) is sometimes used instead of altitude in some calculations using these coordinates. The zenith distance is the complement of altitude (i.e. 90°-altitude).

The horizontal coordinate system is sometimes also called the az/el or Alt/Az coordinate system.

Read more about Horizontal Coordinate System:  General Observations

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