Positional Astronomy: 
Introduction

This course is intended to address the following problems:

• How to describe the position of an object in the sky.

• Which different coordinate systems are appropriate in different situations.

• How to transform between coordinate systems.

• What corrections have to be applied.

It is largely based on the following text-books:

• GREEN, Robin M., Spherical Astronomy (CUP, 1985)

• McNALLY, D., Positional Astronomy (Muller, 1974)

• SMART, W.M., Text-book on Spherical Astronomy (CUP, 1965)

There are other good text-books available;  
they should all have Library of Congress classifications around classmark QB145.

Also look at:

• The Astronomical Almanac

• Norton's Star Atlas or Norton's Star Atlas 2000
  

Objects in the sky appear to be positioned on the celestial sphere, an indefinite distance away.
A sphere is a three-dimensional object, but its surface is two-dimensional.
Spherical geometry is carried out on the surface of a sphere:
it resembles ordinary (plane) geometry, but it involves new rules and relationships.
 
 

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