The angular distance east of the vernal equinox point; the celestial equivalent of longitude
the angular distance around the sky parallel to the celestial equator; measured in hours h, minutes m and seconds s
Whereas Declination gives the cordinates of a star in degrees, a different system of units is used for Right Ascension The Right Ascension of a celestial object is how far away it is from an internationally accepted zero It's a bit like lines of longitude on the Earth - every position East or West of the internationally accepted place (Greenwich in London) has a value measured in degrees For example, Bristol's longitude is +2 degrees - meaning that it is 2 degrees west of London (based on that fact that 360 degrees takes you all the way around the 'circle' of the Earth, back to your starting point In the case of Right Ascension, the angles are measured in hours Since it takes the star-field 24 hours (ignoring sidereal motion for the moment) to rotate once, the lines of longitude of the sky are split up into 24 equal sections, called hours 1 such hour actually corresponds to an angle 15 degrees
Angular distance east of the vernal equinox; the arc of the celestial equator, or the angle at the celestial pole, between the hour circle of a point on the celestial sphere, measured eastward from the hour circle of the vernal equinox through 24 hours
The angular distance of a celestial body or point on the celestial sphere, measured eastward from the vernal equinox along the celestial equator to the hour circle of the body or point and expressed in degrees or hours
the right ascension of a celestial body is the arc on the celestial equator measured from the vernal equinox eastward to the hour circle of the body It is measured in units of time from 0 to 24 hours Right ascension corresponds to longitude on earth
This is like the Earth's longitude It is measured on a circle starting from a fixed point on the sky; in hours, minutes, and seconds
The equivalent of longitude on the celestial sphere It is measured in hours from the spring equinox, where the ecliptic and equator intersect The symbol for right ascension is alpha, a One hour of right ascension is 15° of longitude
The amount of time that passes between the rising of Aries and another celestial object Right ascension is one unit of measure for locating an object in the sky
(pronounce: as-sen-shun) ascensio = [Latin] going up The right ascension is the coordinate in the equatorial coordinate system in the sky that is similar to longitude on Earth It is commonly measured in hours, minutes, and seconds, between 0 and 24 hours The vernal equinox has right ascension zero The other equatorial coordinate is the declination S
Right Ascension of a celestial body is the arc of the equinoctial between Aries and the meridian of the object , always reckoning eastward from Aries It is reckoned in sidereal time , eastward from 0 to 24hrs or 360 degrees
along with Declination, this defines a position on the sky RA is measured eastward along the celestial equator with the zero point at the vernal equinox; it is specified in hours, minutes and seconds
coordinate in the equatorial system of measurement It measures the arc along the celestial equator from the vernal equinox eastward to the position of the celestial body It is similar to the measurement of longitude on Earth
The angular distance, measured Eastwards, from the Vernal Equinox It is one of the ordinates used to reference objects on the celestial sphere It is the equivalent to a longitude reference on the Earth There are 24 hours of right ascension within 360 degrees, so one hour is equivalent to 15 degrees Together with declination, it represents the most commonly used co-ordinate system in modern astronomy S
(astronomy) the angular distance eastward along the celestial equator from the vernal equinox to the intersection of the hour circle that passes through the body; expressed in hours and minutes and second; used with declination to specify positions on the celestial sphere; "one hour of right ascension equals fifteen degrees"
The equatorial coordinate specifying the angle (usually specified in hours, minutes and seconds), measured eastward along the celestial equator from the vernal equinox to the hour circle passing through an object in the sky
angular distance east of the vernal equinox, as measured on the celestial equator
the angular distance measured eastward from the vernal equinox along the celestial equator to the hour circle of a given star or other body It is measured in hours from 0 to 24
One element of the astronomical coordinate system on the sky, which can be though of as longitude on the earth projected onto the sky Right ascension is usually denoted by the lower-case Greek letter alpha and is measured eastward in hours, minutes, and seconds of time from the vernal equinox There are 24 hours of right ascension, though the 24-hour line is always taken as 0 hours More rarely, one sometimes sees right ascension in degrees, in which case there are 360 degrees of right ascension to make a complete circuit of the sky When specifying a comet's location on the sky, one must state the right ascension and declination (with equinox), along with date and time (since a comet moves with respect to the background stars)