Astrophysics (Index)About

plane of the sky

(POS)
(plane tangent to the celestial sphere)

The phrase plane of the sky (POS) refers to a plane normal (i.e., perpendicular) to the line of sight and tangent to the celestial sphere. This makes sense when describing a small region of the sky and the concept is probably sometimes "stretched" to refer to a more significant portion of the sky. The term can be used to describe the attitude or shape of something (e.g., a galaxy, cloud, or orbit), or in a description based upon what is viewable, i.e., the results of a blind survey at some wavelength.


(astronomy,sky,coordinates)
Further reading:
http://dictionary.obspm.fr/index.php?showAll=1&formSearchTextfield=plane+of+the+sky
https://forum.cosmoquest.org/forum/science-and-space/astronomy/63179-what-is-the-plane-of-the-sky

Referenced by pages:
mass function
orbital inclination
projected semi-major axis
superluminal motion
u-v plane
visibility

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