Positional Astronomy

Chapter 3

Fundamentals of Radio
Interferometry
Trienko Grobler
Rhodes University

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Outline

● Spherical Trigonometry

● Geographical Coordinates

● Equatorial Coordinates

● Hour Angle and Local Sidereal Time

● Horizontal Coordinates

● Direction Cosine Coordinates

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Spherical Trigonometry

● Spherical trigonometry is a branch of spherical geometry in which

we study the relationship between the sides and angles of spherical
triangles.
● Spherical triangles are formed by the pairwise intersection of three
great circular arcs in three vertices.
● A great circular arc is an arc segment of a great circle.
● A great circle is formed by the intersection of a sphere and a plane
that passes through the centre of the sphere.

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Spherical Trigonometric Identities

Spherical Cosine Rule:

Spherical Sine Rule:

Five Part Rule:

NB - We use the following trigonometric identities to convert between

astronomical coordinate systems!

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Geographical Coordinate System

● We can use a geographical coordinate system to uniquely identify

a position on earth.
● We normally use the coordinates latitude (to measure north and
south) and longitude (to measure east and west) to accomplish
this.
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Celestial Sphere

● For all intents and purposes we may think of our universe as being
projected onto a sphere of arbitrary radius.
● This sphere surrounds the Earth and is known as the celestial
sphere.
● The celestial equator is obtained by projecting the equator of the
earth onto the celestial sphere.
● The stars themselves do not move on the celestial sphere and
therefore have a unique location on it (at least not much in one
generation).
● The sun is an exception, it changes position in a periodic fashion
during the year. The path it traverses on the celestial sphere is
known as the ecliptic.
● The north celestial pole (NCP) is an important location on the
celestial sphere and is obtained by projecting the north pole of the
earth onto the celestial sphere.
● The south celestial pole (SCP) is obtained in a similar way.

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Vernal Equinox

● We use a specific point on the celestial equator from which we

measure the location of all other celestial objects.
● This point is known as the first point of Aries or the vernal
equinox.
● The vernal equinox is the point where the ecliptic intersects the
celestial equator (south to north).

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Celestial Coordinates

● Right Ascension - We define the hour circle of an object as the

circle on the celestial sphere that crosses the NCP and the object
itself, while also perpendicularly intersecting with the celestial
equator. The right ascension of an object is the angular distance
between the vernal equinox and the hour circle of a celestial object
measured along the celestial equator and is measured eastward. It
is measured in hours:minutes:seconds.
● Declination - the declination of an object is the angular distance
from the celestial equator measured along its hour circle (it is
positive in the northern celestial hemisphere and negative in the
southern celestial hemisphere). It is measured in
degrees:arcmin:arcsec.

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Local Meridian

● Zenith is the position on the celestial sphere which lies directly

above an observer on earth.
● Nadir is the position on the celestial sphere which lies directly
below an observer on earth.
● The local meridian is the hour circle on the celestial sphere which
we form when we connect the NCP with zenith.
● Celestial objects rise in the east reach their highest point when they
cross the local meridian (we say they are at transit) and set in the
west.

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Hour Angle

● The hour angle of a celestial body is the angular distance

(measured in hours) between the hour circle of a celestial object
and the local meridian measured along the celestial equator in a
westerly direction.

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Local Sidereal Time

● Astronomers use a sidereal time-keeping system to keep track of

the vernal equinox (instead of the sun).
● The hour angle of the first point of Aries is your local sidereal time.
● There exists a simple relation between the hour angle of a celestial
body and your local sidereal time which is given by:

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Sidereal Day

● Why do we need separate time-keeping systems to keep track of

the stars and the sun?
● A sidereal day is 4 minutes shorter than a solar day.
● A solar day is the time it takes for the sun to return to the same
position in the sky, while a sidereal day is the amount of time it
takes for an arbitrary star to return to the same location in the sky.
● When the sun reappears at the same location in the sky (after 24
hours) it appears to have moved on the celestial sphere (it has
moved relative to the background stars).
● The apparent movement of the sun on the celestial sphere is due to
the fact that the earth needs to complete a little bit more than one
full rotation for the sun to reappear at the same position in the sky
which in turn comes about due to the fact that the earth orbits the
sun.
● Since the background stars are much further away the earth only
needs one full rotation (23 hours and 56 minutes) for an arbitrary
star to reappear at the same position in the sky.
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Sidereal versus Solar Day

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Revisiting the Vernal Equinox

● Sun appears to move on the celestial sphere (the path it traverses

is known as the ecliptic).
● The vernal equinox is the point on the celestial sphere where the
sun crosses the celestial equator from south to north.
● The vernal equinox is currently in Pisces, but used to be in Aries.
Which is why it is also known as the first point of Aries. It has
moved due to precession.

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Horizontal Coordinates

● The horizontal coordinates:

azimuth and altitude (elevation)
is used to enable an observer on
earth to locate celestial objects in
the observer's local sky.
● The observer's horizontal plane
is the fundamental plane of this
coordinate system and is known
as the celestial horizon.
● The azimuth angle is measured
in the celestial horizon from due
north towards the east, while the
altitude of a celestial object is the
angle between it and the
celestial horizon. Both azimuth
and elevation is measured in
degrees.
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Conversion: Horizontal/Equatorial

∆ZPC – zenith-ncp-source spherical

triangle
● (1) – five part rule

● (2) – sine rule

● (3) – cosine rule

Red – horizontal plane

Blue – equatorial plane

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Direction Cosine Coordinates

● The direction cosine coordinate system is quite powerful and allows

us to redefine the fundamental reference point on the celestial
sphere, from which we measure all other celestial objects, to an
arbitrary location (i.e. we can make local sky-maps around our own
chosen reference point; the vernal equinox need not be our
fundamental reference point).
● Usually this arbitrary location is chosen to be the celestial source
that we are interested in observing. We generally refer to this
arbitrary location as the field-center.
● The direction cosine coordinate system is useful for another reason,
when we use it to image interferometric data, then it becomes
evident that there exists a Fourier relationship between the sky
brightness function and the measurements that an interferometer
makes

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Direction Cosines

● We use three coordinates in the direction cosine coordinate system,

namely l, m and n. The coordinates l, m and n are dimensionless
direction cosines:

If |a|=1, then we can simply

relabel x, y, z to l, m and n.
Direction cosines can also be
Cartesian coordinates.
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Conversion: Direction Cosine\Equatorial

● We derive the conversion

Equations below, by applying
the spherical trigonometric
identities to the source-field
center-NCP triangle (in the left
Image).
● n points toward the field

center.
Red –equatorial plane
Blue – lm plane

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Direction Cosines: Another interpretation

● If we project the direction cosine position vector s=(l,m,n) of a

celestial body onto the lm-plane its projected length will be equal to
sin(θ), where θ is the angular distance between your field-center sc
and s measured along the surface of the celestial sphere.
● If θ is small we may use the small angle approximation, i.e. sin(θ) ≈
θ. The projected length of s is also equal to √(l2+m2), implying that
l2+m2 ≈ θ2. We may therefore loosely interpret √(l2+m2) as the
angular distance measured between the source at s and the field-
center sc measured along the surface of the celestial sphere, i.e. we
may measure l and m in º.

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Units of l and m

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Direction cosines: Summary

● Direction cosines: l, m and n are direction cosines.

● Cartesian coordinates: l, m and n are Cartesian coordinates if we
work on the unit sphere.
●
Angular distance: √(l2+m2) denotes the angular distance θ, (l,m,n)
is from the field-center (if θ is sufficiently small).

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[Title of Reading
Further light page]

● Practical Astronomy with your calculator or spreadsheet

● Foundations of Astronomy
● Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics

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