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Dist Bear

This document provides equations and explanations to calculate the distance and bearing between two points on Earth. It gives the equation to find the shortest distance between any two points on a spherical body using latitude and longitude coordinates. It also provides an equation to calculate the azimuth angle or bearing to travel from the first point to the second. The document includes an example calculation between two observatory locations to demonstrate using the equations.

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48 views

Dist Bear

This document provides equations and explanations to calculate the distance and bearing between two points on Earth. It gives the equation to find the shortest distance between any two points on a spherical body using latitude and longitude coordinates. It also provides an equation to calculate the azimuth angle or bearing to travel from the first point to the second. The document includes an example calculation between two observatory locations to demonstrate using the equations.

Uploaded by

k12d2
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Distance and Bearing

To find the shortest distance between any two points on the surface of the Earth (or any other nearly-spherical object) use the following equation:

% cos 2 # sin 2 ( $ " $ ) + [cos # sin # " sin # cos # cos( $ " $ )]2 ( 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 * d = rp tan ' ' * sin # sin # + cos # cos # cos( $ " $ ) 1 2 1 2 2 1 & )
"1

where

d rp tan-1

"1 "2 #1 #2

= the line-of-sight distance between any two points (in units of rp) = the radius of the planet (km or miles, or any distance unit) (the mean radius of the Earth is 6371 km) = the arctangent function; if using a calculator, be sure it is in radians mode when you have it evaluate the arctangent function; if the arctangent is negative, add !rp to d = latitude of 1st point in radians (negative south of the equator) = latitude of 2nd point in radians (negative south of the equator) = longitude of 1st point in radians (negative west of Greenwich) = longitude of 2nd point in radians (negative west of Greenwich)

A radian is a unit of angular measurement, and is equal to 57.3. There are 2! radians in a circle, so 2! = 360. In addition to knowing the distance from one point to another on the surface of a sphere, you might also be interested in knowing the compass direction, or bearing, you must take to get from the first point to the second point.
"=
* 180 -1' cos$ 2 sin( %2 & %1 ) tan ) , # ( cos $1 sin $ 2 & sin $1 cos $ 2 cos( %2 & %1 ) +

Greek to Me $ = theta " = phi ! = pi # = lambda

where
!

$ = the azimuth angle (east of north) in degrees from the 1st point to the 2nd point (a table relating azimuth to compass bearing is given on the next page); note: if $ is negative, add 360

Now for an example. Lets calculate the distance between the Kitt Peak National Observatory 4-meter telescope, and the 8.4-meter (x2) Large Binocular Telescope on Mt. Graham. First, the coordinates of these two locations: KPNO 4m "1 = 31 57% 50& N = 31.9639 = 0.557875 radians #1 = 111 36% 00& W = -111.6000 = -1.947787 radians "2 = 32 42% 05& N = 32.7014 = 0.570746 radians #2 = 109 53% 36& W = -109.8933 = -1.918000 radians

LBTO 8.4m

Plugging these numbers into the distance equation, we get


"1 d = 6371 km tan cos 2 ( 0.570746) sin 2 ( "1.918+1.947787)+[cos(0.557875) sin(0.570746)" sin(0.557875) cos(0.570746) cos("1.918+1.947787)]2 sin(0.557875) sin(0.570746)+ cos(0.557875) cos(0.570746) cos("1.918+1.947787)

And chugging away, we get


!

d = 180 km = 112 miles Then, to figure out the line-of-sight direction from Kitt Peak to Mt. Graham, we again substitute the values
"=
180 3.141592654

$ tan-1&

' ) % cos(0.557875) sin(0.570746) # sin(0.557875) cos(0.570746) cos(#1.918 + 1.947787) (


cos(0.570746) sin(#1.918 + 1.947787)

And, again chugging away, we get


!

Azimuth Bearing Table 349 - 11 N 12 - 33 NNE 34 - 56 NE 57 - 78 ENE 79 - 101 E 102 - 123 ESE 124 - 146 SE 147 - 168 SSE 169 - 191 S 192 - 213 SSW 214 - 236 SW 237 - 258 WSW 259 - 281 W 282 - 303 WNW 304 - 326 NW 327 - 348 NNW

$ = 62.5 which we can see from our table is in an eastnortheasterly (ENE) direction. By the way, the distance corresponding to 1 of longitude (#) depends on your latitude (") as follows: d# = 111.4133 cos " - 0.0935 cos 3" + 0.0001 cos 5" km And, perhaps surprisingly, the distance corresponding to 1 of latitude (") also depends (in a small way) on your latitude! This is due to the fact that the Earth is an oblate spheroid and not a perfect sphere. The equation is d" = 111.1334 - 0.5594 cos 2" + 0.0012 cos 4" km

We will leave it as an exercise for the reader to calculate the distance (in miles or kilometers) corresponding to 1, 1%, and 1& of latitude and longitude at his or her location. David Oesper 2/18/08

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