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Introduction
In a clear night, the sky appears as a vast hollow hemisphere with its interior studded with innumerable stars. On observing the sky for some duration it appears that the celestial bodies are revolving around the earth with its centre at the position of the observer. The stars move in a regular manner and maintain same position relative to each other. Consequently, terrestrial position or direction defined with reference to celestial body remains absolute for all practical purposes in plane surveying. Thus, the absolute direction of a line can be determined from the position / direction of a celestial body.
2 Meridian : The hour circle passing through observer,s !enith and nadir is known as (observer,s) meridian. It represents the 'orth-.outh direction at observer station. Altitude (h) : The altitude of a celestial body is the angular distance measured along a vertical circle passing through the body. It is considered positive if the angle measured is above hori!on and below hori!on, it is considered as negative.
3 Azimuth (A) : The a!imuth of a celestial body is the angular distance measured along the hori!on from the observer,s meridian to the foot of the vertical circle passing through the celestial body ("igure /).
eclination ( ) : The declination of a celestial body is the angular distance measured from the equator to the celestial body along the arc of an hour circle. It is considered positive in 'orth direction and negative in .outh. Ecliptic : The great circle along which the sun appears to move round the earth in a year is called the ecliptic. Equinoctial points : The points of intersection of the ecliptic circle with the equatorial circle are known as equinoctial points. The point at which the sun transits from .outhern to 'orthern hemisphere is known as "irst point of Aeries ( ) and from 'orthern to .outhern hemisphere as "irst point of 0ibra (). !i"ht ascension : The right ascension of a celestial body is the angular distance along the arc of celestial equator measured from the "irst point of Aeries ( ) to the foot of the hour circle. It is measured from 1ast to 2est direction i.e., anti-clockwise in 'orthern hemisphere. Prime meridian $ 3eference meridian that passes through the 3oyal 'aval Observatory in *reenwich, 1ngland is known as prime meridian4 it is also known as *reenwich meridian. #on"itude ( ) $ The longitude of an observer,s station is the angular distance measured along the equator from the prime meridian to the observer,s meridian. It varies from !ero degrees to #567 1 and 67 to #567 2.
4 #atitude ( ): The latitude of an observer,s station is the angular distance measured along the observer,s meridian from the equator to the !enith point. It varies from !ero degree to 867 ' and 67 to 867 .. Hour an"le (HA) $ The hour angle of a celestial body is the angle at the equatorial plane measured westward from meridian to the hour circle passing through the celestial body. ("igure 9).
#ocal hour an"le (#HA): The angular distance of a celestial body measured westward from the point of intersection of the equator and the meridian of the observer to the foot of the hour circle passing through the celestial body. Green$ich hour an"le (GHA) $ Angle at the equatorial plane measured westward from the prime (*reenwich) meridian to the hour circle through the celestial body. %pherical trian"le: Triangle formed by the intersection of three arcs of great circles (on the surface of the celestial sphere) is known as spherical triangle. Note : The dimension of the celestial sphere is so large that the position of the obser er and the centre of the earth appears to be the same point.
Astronomical &rian"le The spherical triangle formed by arcs of observer,s meridian, vertical circle as well as hour circle through the same celestial body is known as an astronomical triangle. The vertices of an astronomical triangle are &enith point (&), celestial pole (:) and the celestial body (.) and thus termed as &:. triangle. In each astronomical triangle, there are si% important elements. Three of them are the three sides and other three are the three angles of the triangle. It is important to know these elements as some of these will be required to be observed in the field and others are to be computed to find the position / direction of celestial body.
Polar distance (P% or p) : The angular distance from the celestial pole (:) to the celestial body (.) along the hour circle is known as polar distance. It is also known as co-declination and is designated by p (; 867- ), where <is the declination of the celestial body, .. Zenith distance (Z% or z) : The angular distance from observer,s !enith (&) to the celestial body (.) along the vertical circle is known as !enith distance. It is also known as co-altitude and is designated by ! (; 867- h), where h is the altitude of the celestial body, .. Co'latitude( ZP : The angular distance from observer,s !enith (&) to the celestial pole (:) along the observer,s meridian is known as co-latitude and is given by (867- ), where <is the latitude of the observer=< Prof. Sachin Patel (91-9179883194)
6 An"le Z : The angle at the !enith (A) is measured from the observer,s meridian to the vertical circle passing through the celestial body in a plane parallel to the observer,s hori!on. It is nothing but the a!imuth of the celestial body. It is measured clockwise from the observer,s meridian and its value ranges from !ero to 9>67. An"le P : The angle at the pole (:) is measured from the observer,s meridian to the hour circle passing through the celestial body in a plane parallel to the equatorial plane. It is nothing but (9>67? @, hour angle of the celestial body). @our angle is measured clockwise from the upper branch of the observer,s meridian. An"le % : angle at a celestial body between the hour circle and the vertical circle passing through the celestial body. It is known as the parallactic angle.
!f an" of the three elements are #no$n% the remaining three can be comp&ted from form&lae of spherical trigonometr". "ollowing figure shows a spherical triangle &.:. In all there are si% quantities in a spherical triangle, namely, three angles &, . and : and three sides !, s and p. If any three quantities are known, the remaining three can be computed from different formulae of the spherical trigonometry given below.
). %ine *ormula
+. Cosine *ormula (i) cos & ; sin . sin : - cos . cos : (ii) cos ! ; cos s cos p A sin s sin p cos &
(i )
(ii )
(iii)
2here
(i)
(ii )
(iii )
where
(i)
(ii)
(i)
(ii)
1. Com2ined *ormula (i) sin ! cos s ; cos s sin p - sin s cos p cos & (ii) sin ! sin s ; sin s sin !
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E3ample E3') "ind the shortest distance between a station (/87 B/, ', CC7 BD, 1) at 3oorkee and to a station (/57 9D, ', CC7 6>, 1) at elhi. etermine the a!imuth of the line along which the direction of the shortest distance to be set out starting from 3oorkee
%olution : The shortest distance between two stations on the surface of the earth lies along the circumfrence of the great circle passing through the stations. 3efering "igure 1%ample /B-#, let us consider a great arc 3 passing through the 3oorkee and elhi respectively. Thus, arc 3 is the shortest distance between the stations. 0et : be the pole of the earth. and : and :3 are arcs of meredians passing through elhi and 3oorkee stations respectively. Then, : 3 is a astronomical triangle, where : ; CC7 BD, - CC7 6>, ; D5, istance : , r ; 867 - /57 9D, ; >#7 /> istance :3, d ; 867 - /87 B/, ; >67 65,
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Or, cos p ; cos d . cos r A cos : . sin d . sin r ; cos >67 65, . cos >#7 />, A cos D5, . sin >67 65, . sin >#7 />, ; 6./95/> A 6.C>#BD ; 6.888>>59C Therefore<p < <#7</5, 99F.D5 Assuming, rdius of the earth, 3 ; >9C6 km.
Arc distance, 3
"or the determination of the direction from 3 to to be determined. Esing equation /BA.##a,
Therefore 3 A
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.olving 1quation # G /, 3 ; #B#7 99, D8F.>> Thus, the a!imuth of the line to be set out at station 3 to proceed along shortest path to the station at elhi is ; 9>67 - 3 ; /657 />, #6F.9D
E3'+ etermine the a!imuth of the sun having declination 57 /D, . during sunset at 3oorkee (latitude /87 B/, ').
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%olution :
*iven, latitude of observer, ; /87 B/, eclination of the sun, ; 57 /D, . The .un at sunset, thus altitude ; 67 Therefore ; 867 ! ; 867 A ; 857 /D, s ; 867 - ; >67 65,
.i"ure E3ample'+
The triangle &:. is a right angled astronomical triangle, where 3& (in &:.) is in western hemisphere. 'ow, using equation /BA.9a, we get
; - 6.#>5 & ; 887 D#, B9F.6C (2) Thus, a!imuth of the sun, A ; 9>67 - & ; />#7 B8, 9/F./>
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A!imuth of a 0ine:
A!imuth of a line is its hori!ontal angle measured clockwise from geographic or true meridian. "or field observation, the most stable and retraceable reference is geographic north. *eographic north is based on the direction of gravity (vertical) and a%is of rotation of the earth. A direction determined from celestial observations results in astronomic (*eographic) north reference meridian and is known as geographic or true meridian. The a!imuth of a line is determined from the a!imuth of a celestial body. "or this, the hori!ontal angle between the line and the line of sight to the celestial body is required to be observed during astronomic observation along with other celestial observation.
0et AH be the line whose a!imuth (A AH) is required to be determined. 0et O be the station for celestial observations. 0et . be the celestial body whose a!imuth (A s) is determined from the astronomical observation taken at O. The hori!ontal angle from the line AH to the line of sight to celestial body (at the station O) is observed to be 7 clockwise. The a!imuth of the line, AH can be computed from AAH ; A. - 7 (clockwise). If AAH computes to be negative, 9>67 is added to normali!e the a!imuth.
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In order to compute the a!imuth of a line with proper sign, it is better to draw the known parameters. The diagram itself provides the a!imuth of the line with proper sign. "or e%ample, first a line of sight to celestial body, O. is drawn. Then, the a!imuth of the celestial body, A . is considered in counter-clockwise from the line O. and obtained the true north direction i.e. the line O'. .imilarly, the hori!ontal angle 7 is represented in counter clockwise (since the angle from the line to the celestial body is measured clockwise) direction from O. to obtain the relative position of the line. The angle 'OH represents the a!imuth of the line AH.