Knowledge

Colatitude

Source 📝

120: 242:
because they will never set as seen from that latitude. If the star's declination absolute value exceed the observer's colatitude in the opposite hemisphere, then it will never be seen from that location. For example,
259:, Alaska (58°N) because Alpha Centauri's declination absolute value of 60 is more than observer's colatitude (32°) in the opposite hemisphere. Additionally, colatitude is used as part of the 223:
is seen with upper culmination altitude of 72° north (or 108° south) w.r.t. the observer and its declination is known (60°S), then it can be determined that the observer's colatitude is
255:, and the declination of Alpha Centauri (-60°) has an absolute value 60 which is greater than 58 in the corresponding hemisphere; on the other hand, the star will never rise in 39:
are defined to be negative, and as a result the colatitude is a non-negative quantity, ranging from zero at the North pole to 180° at the South pole.
211:
Adding the declination of a star to the observer's colatitude gives the maximum altitude of that star (its angle from the
167: 149: 314: 145: 234:
Stars whose declination absolute value exceed the observer's colatitude in the corresponding hemisphere (see
309: 141: 20: 248: 130: 134: 260: 8: 193: 36: 28: 289: 239: 185: 281: 244: 220: 189: 43: 303: 35:, i.e. the difference between a right angle and the latitude. In geography, 235: 216: 47: 181: 119: 200:(approximately on the North celestial pole), the distance from the 32: 212: 197: 46:
in spherical coordinates, as opposed to the latitude as used in
256: 201: 301: 42:The colatitude corresponds to the conventional 148:. Unsourced material may be challenged and 251:(32°S) because the colatitude of Perth is 168:Learn how and when to remove this message 58:Latitude and colatitude sum up to 90°. 302: 279: 247:will always be visible at night from 146:adding citations to reliable sources 113: 219:or upper transit). For example, if 109: 16:Complement of latitude; polar angle 13: 180:The colatitude is most useful in 14: 326: 227:(i.e. the observer's latitude is 118: 204:(overhead point) to Polaris is 273: 1: 266: 7: 53: 21:spherical coordinate system 10: 331: 184:because it refers to the 249:Perth, Western Australia 263:in general relativity. 315:Orientation (geometry) 261:Schwarzschild metric 142:improve this section 280:Weisstein, Eric W. 29:complementary angle 310:Spherical geometry 192:. For example, at 37:Southern latitudes 178: 177: 170: 107: 106: 322: 294: 293: 290:Wolfram Research 277: 254: 230: 229:90° − 48° = 42°S 226: 225:108° − 60° = 48° 207: 173: 166: 162: 159: 153: 122: 114: 110:Astronomical use 61: 60: 330: 329: 325: 324: 323: 321: 320: 319: 300: 299: 298: 297: 278: 274: 269: 253:90° − 32° = 58° 252: 228: 224: 205: 190:celestial poles 186:zenith distance 174: 163: 157: 154: 139: 123: 112: 56: 17: 12: 11: 5: 328: 318: 317: 312: 296: 295: 271: 270: 268: 265: 245:Alpha Centauri 221:Alpha Centauri 176: 175: 126: 124: 117: 111: 108: 105: 104: 101: 98: 94: 93: 90: 87: 83: 82: 79: 76: 72: 71: 68: 65: 55: 52: 44:3D polar angle 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 327: 316: 313: 311: 308: 307: 305: 291: 287: 283: 276: 272: 264: 262: 258: 250: 246: 241: 238:) are called 237: 232: 222: 218: 214: 209: 206:90 − 42 = 48° 203: 199: 195: 194:latitude 42°N 191: 187: 183: 172: 169: 161: 158:December 2012 151: 147: 143: 137: 136: 132: 127:This section 125: 121: 116: 115: 102: 99: 96: 95: 91: 88: 85: 84: 80: 77: 74: 73: 69: 66: 63: 62: 59: 51: 49: 45: 40: 38: 34: 30: 26: 22: 285: 282:"Colatitude" 275: 233: 210: 179: 164: 155: 140:Please help 128: 57: 41: 24: 18: 240:circumpolar 236:culmination 217:culmination 97:South pole 75:North pole 70:Colatitude 48:cartography 31:of a given 304:Categories 267:References 25:colatitude 286:MathWorld 182:astronomy 129:does not 67:Latitude 86:Equator 54:Examples 33:latitude 213:horizon 198:Polaris 188:of the 150:removed 135:sources 27:is the 257:Juneau 202:zenith 196:, for 64:Place 103:180° 100:−90° 19:In a 133:any 131:cite 92:90° 78:90° 23:, a 231:). 215:at 144:by 89:0° 81:0° 306:: 288:. 284:. 208:. 50:. 292:. 171:) 165:( 160:) 156:( 152:. 138:.

Index

spherical coordinate system
complementary angle
latitude
Southern latitudes
3D polar angle
cartography

cite
sources
improve this section
adding citations to reliable sources
removed
Learn how and when to remove this message
astronomy
zenith distance
celestial poles
latitude 42°N
Polaris
zenith
horizon
culmination
Alpha Centauri
culmination
circumpolar
Alpha Centauri
Perth, Western Australia
Juneau
Schwarzschild metric
"Colatitude"
Wolfram Research

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.