Astronomy Answers: From the Astronomical Dictionary

Astronomy Answers
From the Astronomical Dictionary


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The description of the word you requested from the astronomical dictionary is given below.

the azimuth

as-sumut = [Arab] the roads

The azimuth is the coordinate from the horizontal coordinate system that indicates the direction along the horizon. The azimuth is measured in degrees, but not everyone uses the same range of azimuth or the same zero point. Sometimes the azimuth is measured between −180 and +180°, sometimes between 0 and 360°, and sometimes with 0° in the south, and sometimes with 0° in the north. For astronomical application it is convenient to set 0° in the south and to measure azimuth between −180 and +180°: that provides the best fit to the hour angle.