Astrophysics (Index)About

zenith

(spot on the sky directly above something)

The zenith is the point in the celestial sphere directly above you (or expressions like "the zenith at some place" indicate the above-defined zenith if you were at that place). In the horizontal coordinate system, any coordinate with altitude 90° indicates the zenith. Its equatorial coordinates constantly change, in a daily cycle of constantly changing right ascensions (diurnal motion), with additional very slow coordinate changes due to the precession of the equinoxes. The nadir (of the celestial sphere) is the direction opposite the zenith, i.e., straight down through the Earth.


The word zenith is also used for the highest point a celestial body reaches in the sky, e.g., on a particular day, such as the Sun reaching its zenith.


(celestial sphere)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zenith
https://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Zenith
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l1_p2.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/zenith-astronomy
https://www.physics.unlv.edu/~jeffery/astro/glossary/zenith.html

Referenced by pages:
airmass
altazimuth mount
Arecibo Observatory (NAIC)
celestial meridian
celestial pole
circle of latitude
equatorial coordinate system (EQ)
FAST
Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST)
horizontal coordinate system
Large Zenith Telescope (LZT)
meridian
photographic zenith tube (PZT)
right ascension (RA)
sidereal
solar time
STARE
substellar point
transit
transit telescope
twinkling

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