Position angle, usually abbreviated PA, is a measurement derived from observing visual binary stars. It is defined as the angular offset in degrees of the secondary star to the primary, relative to the north celestial pole.
As the example illustrates, if one were observing a hypothetical binary star with a PA of 135 degrees, that means an imaginary line in the eyepiece drawn from the north celestial pole (NCP) to the primary (P) would be offset from the secondary (S) such that the NCP-P-S angle would be 135 degrees.
When graphing visual binary orbits, the NCP line is traditionally drawn downward—that is, with north at bottom—and PA is measured counterclockwise, from 0 to 359 degrees.
Also the proper motion angle (see proper motion) is sometimes called the position angle.
The definition of position angle is also extended to apply to extended objects like galaxies, where it refers to the angle made by the major axis of the object with the NCP line.
Read more about Position Angle: Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words position and/or angle:
“All conservatives are such from personal defects. They have been effeminated by position or nature, born halt and blind, through luxury of their parents, and can only, like invalids, act on the defensive. But strong natures, backwoodsmen, New Hampshire giants, Napoleons, Burkes, Broughams, Websters, Kossuths, are inevitable patriots, until their life ebbs, and their defects and gout, palsy and money, warp them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I fly in dreams, I know it is my privilege, I do not recall a single situation in dreams when I was unable to fly. To execute every sort of curve and angle with a light impulse, a flying mathematics—that is so distinct a happiness that it has permanently suffused my basic sense of happiness.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)