Concepts in Astronomy #9. The Equatorial Coordinate System

The Equatorial Coordinate System

The Equatorial Coordinate System is one of the celestial coordinate systems available to identify the position of a celestial object in the celestial sphere. Spherical coordinates are used like in the geographic coordinate system used commonly in Earth. This system uses the declination (Dec) as analogue of latitude and right ascension (RA) as analogue of longitude. This system is independent of the location of the observer and also independent of the time of the day or night.

Previous Posts

Concepts in Astronomy #1. Introduction
Concepts in Astronomy #2. The Ecliptic
Concepts in Astronomy #3. The Celestial Equator
Concepts in Astronomy #4. Right Ascension
Concepts in Astronomy #5. Declination
Concepts in Astronomy #6. The Celestial Sphere
Concepts in Astronomy #7. Azimuth
Concepts in Astronomy #8. Altitude

Credits

- Galaxy image obtained from Pixabay under CC0. No Copyright. The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law

- RA and Dec in Celestial Sphere image obtained from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 3.0. Author:Tfr000