Right Ascension and Declination

This coordinate system is illustrated in the following figure (for which you should imagine
the earth to be a point at the center of the sphere).

The celestial coordinate system

In the celestial coordinate system the North and South Celestial Poles are determined by
projecting the rotation axis of the Earth to intersect the celestial sphere, which in turn
defines a Celestial Equator. The celestial equivalent of latitude is called declination and is
measured in degrees North (positive numbers) or South (negative numbers) of the Celestial
Equator. The celestial equivalent of longitude is called right ascension. Right ascension can
be measured in degrees, but for historical reasons it is more common to measure it in time
(hours, minutes, seconds): the sky turns 360 degrees in 24 hours and therefore it must turn
15 degrees every hour; thus, 1 hour of right ascension is equivalent to 15 degrees of
(apparent) sky rotation.

Equinoxes and Solstices

The zero point for celestial longitude (that is, for right ascension) is the Vernal Equinox,
which is that intersection of the ecliptic and the celestial equator near where the Sun is
located in the Northern Hemisphere Spring. The other intersection of the Celestial Equator
and the Ecliptic is termed the Autumnal Equinox. When the Sun is at one of the equinoxes
the lengths of day and night are equivalent (equinox derives from a root meaning "equal
night"). The time of the Vernal Equinox is typically about March 21 and of the Autumnal
Equinox about September 22.
The point on the ecliptic where the Sun is most north of the celestial equator is termed the
Summer Solstice and the point where it is most south of the celestial equator is termed the
Winter Solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere the hours of daylight are longest when the
Sun is near the Summer Solstice (around June 22) and shortest when the Sun is near the
Winter Solstice (around December 22). The opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere.
The term solstice derives from a root that means to "stand still"; at the solstices the Sun
reaches its most northern or most southern position in the sky and begins to move back
toward the celestial equator. Thus, it "stands still" with respect to its apparent North-
South drift on the celestial sphere at that time.

Traditionally, Northern Hemisphere Spring and Fall begin at the times of the
corresponding equinoxes, while Northern Hemisphere Winter and Summer begin at the
corresponding solstices. In the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are reversed (e.g.,
Southern Hemisphere Spring begins at the time of the Autumnal Equinox).

Coordinates on the Celestial Sphere

The right ascension (R.A.) and declination (dec) of an object on the celestial sphere specify
its position uniquely, just as the latitude and longitude of an object on the Earth's surface
define a unique location. Thus, for example, the star Sirius has celestial coordinates 6 hr 45
min R.A. and -16 degrees 43 minutes declination, as illustrated in the following figure.

Right Ascension and Declination for Sirius

This tells us that when the vernal equinox is on our celestial meridian, it will be 6 hours and
45 minutes before Sirius crosses our celestial meridian, and also that Sirius is a little more
than 16 degrees South of the Celestial Equator.
Keeping your Perspective
Do not become confused because the perspectives in the celestial sphere diagram and the
sky segment diagram containing Sirius are different. In the celestial sphere diagram one is
imagining an outside view of the celestial sphere (from a vantage point beyond the most
distant stars that we see with the naked eye). In the diagram showing the position of Sirius
in the sky the view is instead the actual sky as viewed from the Earth (that is, from the
center of the sphere in the first diagram).

Thus, the directions get reversed: moving to the right from the vernal equinox in the first
diagram will look like moving to the left as viewed from its center, which is the perspective
of the second diagram (that is, the actual view of the sky from Earth). That direction, by
convention, is chosen to be the positive direction for right ascension.

Early astronomy concentrated on finding accurate positions of the stars and planets. This was
due in part to the influence of astrology, but later, accurate positions came to be important for
determining the physical characteristics of the stars and planets. Accurate positions for the stars
was also crucial for commercial and military navigation (navigation by the stars has only
recently been replaced by the use of satellite systems such as the Global Positioning System).
But probably of more importance to you is where to point your telescope or binoculars to find
that cool object talked about in the newspaper or astronomy magazine.

There are a couple of popular ways of specifying the location of a celestial object. The first is
what you would probably use to point out a star to your friend: the altitude-azimuth system. The
altitude of a star is how many degrees above the horizon it is (anywhere from 0 to 90 degrees).
The azimuth of a star is how many degrees along the horizon it is and corresponds to the
compass direction.
Azimuth starts from exactly North = 0 degrees azimuth and increases clockwise: exactly East =
90 degrees, exactly South = 180 degrees, exactly West = 270 degrees, and exactly North = 360
degrees = 0 degrees. For example, a star in the southwest could have an azimuth between 180
degrees and 270 degrees. Since stars change their position with respect to your horizon
throughout the night, their altitude-azimuth position changes. Also, observers at different
locations looking at the same star at the same time will see it at a different altitude-azimuth
position. A concise summary of this coordinate system and the numbers involved is given at the
end of this section.

The second way of specifying star positions is the equatorial coordinate system. This system is
very similar to the longitude-latitude system used to specify positions on the Earth's surface. This
system is fixed with respect to the stars so, unlike the altitude-azimuth system, a star's position
does not depend on the observer's location or time. Because of this, astronomers prefer using this
system. You will find this system used in astronomy magazines and in most sky simulation
computer software.
Selecting the image link will bring up a short animation of a spinning celestial sphere.

The lines on a map of the Earth that run north-south are lines of longitude and when projected
onto the sky, they become lines of right ascension. Because the stars were used to measure time,
right ascension (RA) is measured in terms of hours, minutes, and seconds instead of degrees and
increases in an easterly direction. For two stars one hour of RA apart, you will see one star cross
your meridian one hour of time before the other. If the stars are not circumpolar, you will see one
star rise one hour before the other. If they were 30 minutes of RA apart, you would see one rise
half an hour before the other and cross your meridian half an hour before the other. Zero RA is
where the Sun crosses the celestial equator at the vernal equinox. The full 360 degrees of the
Earth's rotation is broken up into 24 hours, so one hour of RA = 15 degrees of rotation. The lines
of RA all converge at the celestial poles so two stars one hour of RA apart will not necessarily be
15 degrees in angular separation on the sky (only if they are on the celestial equator will they be
15 degrees apart).
The lines on a map of the Earth that run east-west parallel to the equator are lines of latitude and
when projected onto the sky, they become lines of declination. Like the latitude lines on Earth,
declination (dec) is measured in degrees away from the celestial equator, positive degrees for
objects north of the celestial equator and negative degrees for objects south of the celestial
equator. Objects on the celestial equator are at 0 degrees dec, objects half-way to the NCP are
+45 degrees, objects at the NCP are +90 degrees, and objects at the SCP are -90 degrees.
Polaris's position is at RA 2hr 31min and dec 89 degrees 15 arc minutes. A concise summary of
this coordinate system and the numbers involved is given at the end of this section.

The Basic Coordinates module of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Astronomy Education

program provides a great way to make the connection between terrestrial coordinates (longitude
and latitude) and the equatorial coordinate system (link will appear in a new window). The first
part of the module has you drag a cursor around on a flat world map or globe and read off its
terrestrial coordinate position. The second part of the module has you do the same sort of thing
using a flat map of the sky or a globe of the celestial sphere and read off the right ascension and
declination. Both parts also illustrate the distortion that happens when you project a curved
spherical surface onto a flat two-dimensional map.

The UNL Astronomy Education's Rotating Sky module has you explore the connection
between the two coordinate systems. You can change your location on the Earth and adjust the
position of multiple stars and see where the stars would appear and how they would move on the
celestial sphere and around your position on the Earth as the Earth rotates beneath the stars.

An effect called precession causes the Sun's vernal equinox point to slowly shift westward over
time, so a star's RA and dec will slowly change by about 1.4 degrees every century (a fact
ignored by astrologers), or about 1 minute increase in a star's RA every twenty years. This is
caused by the gravitational pulls of the Sun and Moon on the Earth's equatorial bulge (from the
Earth's rapid rotation) in an effort to reduce the tilt of the Earth's axis with respect to the ecliptic
and the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth (that is itself slightly tipped with respect to
the ecliptic). Like the slow wobble of a rapidly-spinning top, the Earth responds to the
gravitational tugs of the Sun and Moon by slowly wobbling its rotation axis with a period of
26,000 years.

This motion was first recorded by Hipparchus in 100 B.C.E. who noticed differences between
ancient Babylonian observations and his own. When the Babylonians were the world power in
2000 B.C.E., the vernal equinox was in the constellation Aries and the star Thuban (in Draco)
was the closest bright star to the NCP. At the time of Jesus Christ the vernal equinox had shifted
to the constellation Pisces and the star Kochab (in the bowl of the Little Dipper) was the closest
bright star to the NCP. Now the star Polaris is close to the NCP and the vernal equinox is close to
the border between Pisces and Aquarius (in 2600 C.E. it will officially be in Aquarius) which is
what a popular song of years ago refers to with the line ``this is the dawning of the Age of
Aquarius''. In the year 10,000 C.E., the bright star in the tail of Cygnus, Deneb, will be the pole
star and Vega (in Lyra) will get its turn by the year 14,000 C.E. Horoscopes today are still based
on the 4,000-year old Babylonian system so even though the Sun is in Aries on my birthday, the
zodiac sign used for my horoscope is Taurus. I guess it's hard to keep up with all of the changes
in the modern world!
Star Chart sites
(These will appear in another window)

1. National Geographic Society's Star Chart with Hubble image enhancments. Select a particular
section of the sky on the image map. Locations of objects imaged by Hubble are hyper-linked on
the section you selected. The grid lines are lines of right ascension and declination.
2. Interactive Star Chart. Choose a constellation as your starting point for this viewer of the skies.
Your browser must be java-enabled.
3. Your Sky is a free interactive planetarium simulator on the web. Use it to create a sky map of the
entire sky or a horizon view as seen from your location on the Earth.
4. Monthly evening sky maps are available for free from Skymap.com. The star charts show the
entire sky with a white sky background and black stars and include a calendar of astronomical
events for the month.
 5. Sky and Telescope's Interactive Sky Chart is another free star chart service. Create a chart of the
entire sky or a horizon view from your location on the Earth. You can also create a PDF of the
chart for printing that has a white sky and black stars.

Formulae

 Altitude varies from 0 to 90°. Vertical position of object.

 Azimuth varies from 0° to 360°. Exact N = 0°, exact E = 90°, exact S = 180°, exact W = 270°.
Horizontal position of object.
 Right ascension varies from 0 to 24 hours, so every hour corresponds to a rotation angle of 15°.
Horizontal position of object measured in time units.
 Declination varies from -90° (at SCP) to +90° (at NCP). Celestial equator declination = 0°. Vertical
position of object.
 Meridian altitude of any object = 90 - (observer's latitude) + declination degrees. If declination is
negative, then addition of declination becomes a subtraction.

Formulae for Sun's position

 Ecliptic tilted by 23.5° with respect to the celestial equator.

 Sun's declination ranges between -23.5° and +23.5°.
 Vernal equinox right ascension = 0 hours; declination = 0°; Sun rises at 90deg; azimuth and sets
at 270° azimuth.
 June solstice right ascension = 6 hours; declination = +23.5°; Sun rises at less than 90° azimuth
and sets at greater than 270° azimuth.
 Autumnal equinox right ascension = 12 hours; declination = 0°; Sun rises at 90° azimuth and sets
at 270° azimuth.
 December solstice right ascension = 18 hours; declination = -23.5° Sun rises at greater than 90°
azimuth and sets at less than 270° azimuth.

Review Questions

1. At what two azimuths does the celestial equator intercept the horizon?
2. If a star's position at 10 pm is 110° azimuth and 40° altitude, will its azimuth be greater or less at
11 pm? If the star is still east of the meridian at 11 pm, will its altitude be greater or less than it
was at 10 pm? First assume you are in the northern hemisphere. Explain your answer. Then
assume you are in the southern hemisphere and explain your answer.
3. Why do astronomers prefer using right ascension and declination?
4. What is the azimuth of any object when it crosses the meridian at any time of year in the
southern sky?
5. If a star has a RA of 5 hours and crosses the meridian at 10:45 pm, what is the RA of a star that
crosses the meridian at 1:00 am? Explain your answer.
6. What is the Sun's altitude when it crosses the meridian in Bakersfield and its declination is
+23.5°?
7. What is the altitude of the NCP at Fairbanks, Alaska (lat. = 65° N)?
8. How do the positions of the equinoxes and solstices with respect to the horizon depend on the
latitude?
9. What is the maximum altitude of the Sun on the vernal equinox for people on the equator?
What is the Sun's azimuth and right ascension at that time?
10. What will the Sun's declination be on the following dates: June 21, March 21, September 22, and
December 21?
11. What will the Sun's approximate declination be on the following dates: April 10, July 20, and
October 31? Explain your answer.
12. If the Sun sets 10° away from due West on October 20, what is the sunset azimuth?
13. If the Sun rises 12° away from due East on April 19, what is the sunrise azimuth?
14. What causes precession?
15. How does precession affect the positions of the stars?
16. If a star on the celestial equator has a RA of 5 hours 33 minutes, what would you estimate its RA
to be in 20 years and in 200 years? Explain your answer. (Remember that the Earth spins about
15°/hour.)
17. Which star is the current pole star? Which star was the pole star 2,000 years ago? Which star
will be the pole star 8,000 years from now?
18. Are modern horoscopes based on the current motion of the Sun and planets with respect to
stars?