Introduction to Astronomical

co-ordinate systems
Ben Opperman. SKA/KAT
computing team South Africa.
10 Feb 2006
Overview
Reference frames
Equatorial and ecliptic planes
Celestial sphere
Right Ascension and Declination
Sidereal time
Coordinate transformations
Example: ECEF-ENU transformation
uvw calculation in radio synthesis
Reference frame
Necessary and convenient to represent
objects position in several different coord
systems.
Often coord. frames of observations differ
from those more convenient for
calculations.
Celestial coord frames
Topocentric: viewed from Earths surface
Geocentric: viewed from Earths centre
Heliocentric: viewed from Suns centre
J2000
An almost inertial coordinate system can be
achieved by referring to a particular epoch and
specify how to transform observations to and
from this time.
The J2000 system is based on Fundamental
Katalogue, FK5 star catalogue.
This system represents a best realization of an
ideal, inertial frame at fixed epoch.
The J2000 is basically the Geocentric Equatorial
coordinate system at particular time, J2000
epoch, so it fixes a common frame for all
observations.
Ecliptic and equatorial plane
geometry
N

E
q
u
a
t
o
r
i
a
l
p
l
a
n
e
Ecliptic
S
: Obliquity of the ecliptic. ~23.5
N

Equatorial
plane
E
c
l
i
p
t
i
c
S
N

Equatorial
plane
E
c
l
i
p
t
i
c
S
Line of nodes

Equinoxes

Equinox and solstice

Sun
X

Autumnal equinox
1st day of Autumn
Sep 23
Winter solstice
1st day of winter
Dec 21
Summer solstice
1st day of Summer
Jun 21
Vernal equinox
1st day of Spring
Mar 21
Equinoxes
Autumnal equinox

Vernal equinox
Winter solstice
Summer solstice
Right ascension declination

+
+
Equatorial plane
Y
Z
Right ascension [0
h
, 24
h
].
Declination [-90, 90].
X

GMST
00

LST
Local meridian
Star
LHA
Star

GHA

North
Pole
Sidereal time
Greenwich Mean Sidereal Time (
GMST
) :
Greenwich hour angle of the vernal equinox
LST GMST
= +
Local Sidereal Time (
LST
): hour angle of
the vernal equinox relative to the local
meridian
star MGST
star LST
LHA
LHA


= +
=
Calculating GMST

GMST
=
GST0
+
e
UT1

GST0
= 100.4606184 +36000.770053T
UT1
+ 0.00038793T
UT1
2
2.6x10
-8
T
UT1
3
(Greenwhich mean sidereal time at (0h 0m 0s) UT1 using J2000 epoch)
T
UT1
= Number of Julian centuries elapsed from epoch J2000
0
1
2451545.0
36525
UT
JD
T

=
JD
0
= Julian day number for date of interest

e
= Earths mean angular rotation rate (0.0041780746222912050. s
-1
)
Azimuth and elevation
Azimuth defined as angle in the local horizontal plane measured
from North over East.
Elevation measured as angle above local horizontal plane.
Zenith angle is elevation compliment (90-el)
Given an Observers geocentric lon,lat (, ), a stars co-ordinates
( , ), calculate the stars azimuth and elevation at a required time:
GMST
H = + (Local hour angle)
sin .cos
tan( )
cos .sin sin .cos .cos
H
az
H

sin( ) sin .sin cos .cos .cos el H = +

Coordinate transformations
Usually involves a
Translation of origin and
Rotation of axes
Translation
B
A
Translation
r
1
B
A
r
2
Translation
r
1
B
r
21
= r
2
r
1
A
r
2
Co-ordinate rotation
Co-ordinate rotation
y
y
1
x
x
1
Co-ordinate rotation
y
x
1
y
1
Y
x
2
y
2

x
X
Co-ordinate rotation
y
x
1
y
1
Y
x
x
2
y
2

2 1 1
2 1 1
cos sin
sin cos
x x y
y x y


= +
= +
X
Co-ordinate rotation
y
x
1
y
1
Y
x
x
2
y
2

2 1
2 1
In Matrix notation
cos sin
sin cos
x x
y y



=

X
Co-ordinate rotation: 3D notation
x
y
x
1
y
1
Y
x
2
y
2

( )
2 1
2 1
2 1
cos sin 0
sin cos 0
0 0 1
or
x x
y y
z z

=



=
2 z 1
r R r
Z, Z
X
Rotation matrices
( )
( )
( )
1 0 0
0 cos sin axis rotation
0 sin cos
cos 0 sin
0 1 0 axis rotation
sin 0 cos
cos sin 0
sin cos 0 axis rotation
0 0 1
x
y
z
R X
R Y
R Z

=





=



The angle of rotation is known as the Euler angle.
Right-handed euler angles are > 0; left-handed <0.
Coordinate rotation
A coordinate rotation only changes the
vectors basis. The vector has the same
length and direction, but the components
will differ.
Earth-Centred-Earth-Fixed (ECEF)
coordinate system
Equatorial plane
Y (East)
Z (North)
X (Greenwich)
Calculating ECEF from Geodetic
coordinates

2 2
sin 1 e
a
N

=
Earth radius of curvature
cos cos ) ( h N X + =
sin cos ) ( h N Y + =
( ) ( ) sin 1
2
h e N Z + =
: Longitude (deg)
Latitude (deg)
h: Height above WGS84 ellipsoid
WGS84 parameters
a : Earth semi-major axis (6378137.00m)
e
2
: Earth first numerical eccentricity (6.6943799013e-3)
f: Earth flattening ( 1/298.257)
East-North-Up coordinate system
U
North pole

N
E
Local horizon
: antenna latitude
East-North-Up (ENU) coordinate
system
Local horizontal plane
Y (North)
Z (Up)
X (East)
(,,h)
North-East-Down (NED) coordinate
system
Local horizontal plane
Y (East)
X (North)
(,,h)
Z (Down)
Converting between ECEF and
ENU (1)
Transformation from ECEF to ENU involves a translation,
two axes rotations and axes swap from NED to ENU
Let
A
ECEF
r
denote the antenna's ECEF position
O
ECEF
r
denote the origin's ECEF position
Translation:
Shift origin of antenna axis to origin
(, ) origin longitude and latitude
A O
ECEF ECEF
= r r r
Converting between ECEF and
ENU (2)
Rotation:
Rotate the resulting vector r
1) about the Z-axis through ,
2) about the Y-axis through - and
3) Swap axes from NED to ENU (Swap matrix S)
( ) ( ) r R R S r =
z y
ENU
ECEF
r r

=
1 0 0
0 cos sin
0 sin cos
cos 0 sin
0 1 0
sin 0 cos
0 0 1
1 0 0
0 1 0




ENU
ECEF
r r

=



sin sin cos cos cos
cos cos sin cos sin
0 cos sin
ENU
ECEF
Obtaining uv-coords from an
antenna array
Obtaining uvw coords from antenna
array
0 sin cos
1 0 0
0 cos sin
i i
x E
y N
z U




=



ji j i
= B x x
The (projected) baseline between two antennas i and j are
given by
For configuration of N antennas, (N
2
N)/2 baseline pairs are possible
sin cos 0
1
sin cos sin sin cos
cos cos cos sin sin
x
y
z
ji ji
u h h B
v h h B
w h h B

=



Geometry
North pole

z
N
U
y, E
x
Local horizon
E,N, U: components of the East-North-Up coordinate
system.
: antenna latitude
Motion of coordinate system
Precession (General and luni-solar)
Nutation
Nutation
Nutation consists of small oscillations in
the Earths rotation axis and is caused by
an additional torque on the equatorial
bulge by the Moon. Because the Moons
orbital plane precesses around the Earth
with a period of 18.6 years, nutation is a
short-term, periodic motion of about 18.6
years with amplitude of about 9.
Nutation
Precession
Nutation
Pole
Precession
General precession is a combined effect of planetary and luni-solar
precession and amounts to a change in longitude of about 50 per
year
Planetary precession is the result of the gravitational action of the
planets on the Earths orbit, which results in a very slow, secular
change in the ecliptics orientation. This causes a westward
precession of the equinox of about 12 per century and a decrease
in the obliquity of the ecliptic () of about 47 per century
A torque exerted on the Earths equatorial bulge by the Sun and
Moon causes luni-solar precession. This torque attempts to align
the equator with the ecliptic and results in a gyroscopic motion of the
Earths rotation axis around the pole of the ecliptic with a period of
about 26 000 years, causing the vernal equinox to recede along the
ecliptic at a rate of about 49.846 per year.
Thank you