In astronomy and celestial navigation, the hour angle is one of the coordinates used in the equatorial coordinate system to give the direction of a point on the celestial sphere. The hour angle of a point is the angle between two planes: one containing the Earth's axis and the zenith (the meridian plane), and the other containing the Earth's axis and the given point (the hour circle passing through the point).
The angle may be expressed as negative east of the meridian plane and positive west of the meridian plane, or as positive westward from 0° to 360°. The angle may be measured in degrees or in time, with 24h = 360° exactly.
In astronomy, hour angle is defined as the angular distance on the celestial sphere measured westward along the celestial equator from the meridian to the hour circle passing through a point. It may be given in degrees, time, or rotations depending on the application. In celestial navigation, the convention is to measure in degrees westward from the prime meridian (Greenwich hour angle, GHA), the local meridian (local hour angle, LHA) or the first point of Aries (sidereal hour angle, SHA).
The hour angle is paired with the declination to fully specify the direction of a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system.
Read more about Hour Angle: Relation With The Right Ascension, Solar Hour Angle, Sidereal Hour Angle
Famous quotes containing the words hour and/or angle:
“I have mummy truths to tell
Whereat the living mock,
Though not for sober ear,
For maybe all that hear
Should laugh and weep an hour upon the clock.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“So much symmetry!
Like the pale angle of time
And eternity.
The great shape labored and fell.”
—N. Scott Momaday (b. 1934)