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Questions tagged [right-ascension]

Questions regarding the second ordinate of the equatorial celestial system.

3 votes
1 answer
9k views

How to calculate the ground track of the Moon's position on the Earth's surface?

I would like to project the Moon's position on to the surface of the Earth, starting with its position expressed as Right Ascension in degrees. I know that the declination of the Moon corresponds to ...
Borja's user avatar
  • 133
3 votes
1 answer
446 views

Moon equatorial coordinates

It took some effort, but in the end, I successfully calculated the geographical point of the Sun. I assumed that I could do the same for the Moon. My plan is: Find RA and declination of the Moon ...
bitemybyte's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
664 views

How to calculate the time and distance of closest approach of a star?

How should I approach this problem? A star has a motion on the sky of 0.78 arcsec/yr in declination and 1.33 arcsec/yr in right ascension. Calculate the velocity of the star in the plane of the sky ...
AHMED KRS's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
918 views

Calculating right ascension for two planets and their separation using python

I am experimenting with the Python library PyEphem for astronomy, and I am trying to recreate/understand some of the basic calculations there. There is a function called separation that, given two ...
Luis Miguel's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
204 views

angles on the celestial sphere

This is a somewhat simplified, and drawn / formulated in a manner more targeted to astronomy, version of a diagram and a question that I've also posted in math.stackexchange.com. In the diagram below ...
Marcus Junius Brutus's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
770 views

Presenting / printing Right Ascension and Declination values

Are there any standards or established practices on how to write / represent Right Ascension (RA) and Declination (DEC) values in the sexagesimal format? I have seen all of the following. E.g. for RA: ...
Marcus Junius Brutus's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
690 views

When does a star rise with the sun?

Problem: Suppose an observer's latitude is 45 S and a star's RA/DEC is 3h15min/41S. On what date will the sun set with the star. I have been stuck on this problem for a while. I found out that the ...
Arhaan Ahmad's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
954 views

Measuring misalignment between two positions on sky

Let's say I have the (RA,Dec) for two positions on the sky. I want to measure the position angle between these two positions. In other words, if I had the Cartesian coordinate vectors for these two ...
quantumflash's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Declination calculation

My task is to calculate current declination and right ascension for some artificial Earth satellite. For example ISS. I am using latest TLE data for extracting keplerian orbital elements and then ...
Vekszor's user avatar
  • 33
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Convert a Decimal into RA or Dec

http://exoplanets.eu/ displays R.A. on screen in hh:mm:ss format but when you export the table, it gives the R.A. as a decimal. Likewise for Declination. How can I turn for example 24.35417 (WASP-...
MiscellaneousUser's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
578 views

Using setting circle for Right Ascension

I'm a little bit confused about the setting circle of my EQ5 mount. Basically, I'm trying to find M42 nebula using Sirius star as reference. So, considere that I did the following steps: ...
Daniel Bonetti's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
159 views

Distance from W(West) to vernal equinox

I am pretty new to astronomy and the project I am currently working on requires some knowledge of equatorial coordinate system. As long as I have been researching this question, I understood that ...
Sardor Gulyamov's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
96 views

How are the days relating to right ascension around a polar star chart decided?

If you look at this link they have days realting to right acension. How did they calculate nov 20th == 0h, dec 6 == 1h? I was trying to calculate this in astropy, but I end up with nov 20th, 8pm == ...
Sam P's user avatar
  • 111
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is the right ascension overhead at Greenwich at noon on 21 march

My question is seen in the title: What is the right ascension overhead at Greenwich at noon on 21 march I'm a little bit confused since the right ascension is set by the vernal equinox and don't ...
Amaluena's user avatar
  • 123
1 vote
1 answer
442 views

Sidereal time and right ascension

I'm new to astronomy and have to make a star map that displays the stars above a current location. From the information I've pieced together I understand that declination is equal to the current ...
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