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Glossary term: 天球坐标

Description: 从地球上看,我们认为天体位于一个球壳上,传统上称为天球。我们可以用两个数字来描述该球壳上的任何位置。将两个这样的数字映射到天球上某一位置的任何一种方法都称为天球坐标系,而这些数字则称为天体的(天球)坐标。

在地球表面,我们使用地理经纬度来达到同样的目的。事实上,定义天体坐标的一种方法就是从地理经纬度中衍生出来的:天空中直接位于地球赤道正上方的那些点,构成了天赤道;而位于地球表面上某一位置正上方的点,则以类似于其基准点经纬度的方式确定坐标。

天文学家使用不同种类的坐标系,而其中的一种坐标系考虑到了地球每天的自转,因此其坐标是通用的,在地球上任何地方都可以使用。这也确保了恒星等天体的坐标不会在数天、数月或数年的时间尺度内发生显著变化。

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Term and definition status: The original definition of this term in English have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The translation of this term and its definition is still awaiting approval

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

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Related Diagrams


The four bright stars of Crux form a kite shape with the long axis pointing vertically

Crux Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Crux (commonly known as the Southern Cross or Crux Australis) showing its bright stars and surrounding constellations. The Southern Cross is surrounding by (going clockwise from the top) Centaurus, Carina and Musca. The brightest star is alpha Crucis which appears at the bottom of the constellation's famous kite shape. The Southern Cross is visible from southern and equatorial regions of the world. In more southerly parts of the world it is circumpolar so is always above the horizon. In other parts of the southern hemisphere and in equatorial regions it is most visible in the evenings in the southern hemisphere autumn. The yellow circles show the locations of two open clusters, NGC 4755 (known as the Jewel Box) and NGC 4609. The line joining gamma and alpha Crucis (the third and first brightest stars in the Southern Cross) points in the approximate direction of the South Celestial Pole. This has led to the Southern Cross playing an important role in celestial navigation, allowing navigators from different astronomical traditions to find their bearings. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope.

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 署名 4.0 国际 (CC BY 4.0) icons


猎户座呈沙漏状,两串恒星分别向东北和西北方延伸

猎户座星图

Caption: 猎户座及其明亮的恒星和周围的星座。猎户座被金牛座、波江座、天兔座、麒麟座和双子座环绕(从上往下顺时针依次排列)。猎户座最亮的恒星参宿四和参宿七分别位于星座的北端(图中上部)和南端(图中下部),中间是著名的三星 "腰带"。 猎户座横跨天赤道,因此在一年中的某些时候,从地球上的任何地方都能看到它。在世界上最北极或最南极地区,可能看不到猎户座的某些部分。猎户座在北半球冬季和南半球夏季的晚上最为明显。猎户座上方的蓝线标志着黄道,即太阳在一年中划过天空的轨迹。太阳从不经过猎户座,但人们偶尔会在猎户座发现太阳系的其他行星和月球。 在猎户座腰带的正南方,有两个梅西叶天体M42(猎户座星云)和M43,用绿色方框标出。这些星云和M78(腰带左边的绿色方框)是巨大的猎户座分子云团的一部分。它覆盖了猎户座的大部分区域,包括这些分子云正在坍缩形成新星的区域。 该图的 y 轴表示赤纬,单位为度数,以北为上,x 轴表示赤经,单位为小时,以东为左。这里标注的恒星大小与恒星的视星等有关,视星等是衡量恒星视亮度的标准。较大的点代表较亮的恒星。希腊字母表示星座中的亮星。这些恒星按亮度排序,最亮的恒星被标记为α星,第二亮的为β星,等等,不过并不总是完全遵循这种排序。围绕着参宿四的圆圈表示它是一颗变星。虚线是国际天文学联合会划定的星座边界,绿色实线是表示星座的常用形式之一。星座边界和连接恒星的线条都不会出现在实际天空中。
Credit: 由国际天文学联合会天文教育办公室根据国际天文学联合会/《天空与望远镜》的原文改编

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 署名 4.0 国际 (CC BY 4.0) icons


天秤座呈现为一个尖端朝北(上方)的三角形,两侧分别有一条直线垂下。黄道从东南偏东(ESE)方向延伸至西北偏西(WNW)方向,将天秤座一分为二。

天秤座星图

Caption: 天秤座及其明亮恒星与周边星座示意图。从顶部开始沿顺时针方向,天秤座周边的星座依次为:巨蛇头、室女座、长蛇座、半人马座、豺狼座、天蝎座和蛇夫座。天秤座位于黄道上。从地球看来,太阳以一年为周期在天球上移动,所经过的路径称为黄道,在图中以蓝色实线标注。太阳在每年十月下旬到十一月下旬位于天秤座。太阳系中的其他行星也经常出现在天秤座。 天秤座位于天赤道以南,因此在地球上,除了北极地区以外,一年中的某些时候都能看到它。天秤座在北半球春末夏初和南半球秋末冬初的夜晚最适宜观测。 该图的纵轴为赤纬,横轴为赤经,方向为上北下南左东右西。图中标注的恒星大小对应其视星等——衡量天体视亮度的标准,较大的圆点代表着较亮的恒星。图中的希腊字母标注着星座中最亮的恒星。这些恒星按亮度排序,最亮的一般被标记为α星,第二亮的一般为β星,等等,不过这种字母排序并不总是和实际亮度排序完全一致。图中虚线标注的是国际天文学联合会划定的星座边界,绿色实线则是一种常见的星座形象连线。需要注意的是,在实际观测时,这些边界与连线都不会出现在天空中。
Credit: 国际天文学联合会天文教育办公室(IAU OAE)根据国际天文学联合会和《天空与望远镜》的原文改编

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 署名 4.0 国际 (CC BY 4.0) icons


天蝎座看起来像相连的T字形和J字形。黄道从东经向西偏西方向运行,夹住了T字形的一臂。

天蝎座星图

Caption: 天蝎座及其明亮恒星与周边星座示意图。从顶部开始沿顺时针方向,天秤座周边的星座依次为:蛇夫座、巨蛇头、天秤座、豺狼座、矩尺座、天坛座、南冕座和人马座。天蝎座最亮的恒星是心宿二,位于天蝎座的中心,其东南方(左下方)是著名的天蝎尾。天蝎座位于黄道上。从地球看来,太阳以一年为周期在天球上移动,所经过的路径称为黄道,在图中以蓝色实线标注。太阳只在每年十一月下旬的很短一段时间内位于天蝎座。太阳系中的其他行星也经常出现在天蝎座。 天蝎座位于天赤道以南。北极地区无法看到整个天蝎座,亚洲、欧洲和北美洲北部地区的观测者也无法看到天蝎座的部分区域。天蝎座在北半球的夏季和南半球的冬季夜晚最适宜观测。 疏散星团M6、M7和NGC 6231在图中均以黄色圆圈标注,球状星团M4和M80在图中均以叠加了十字符号的黄色圆圈标注。 该图的纵轴为赤纬,横轴为赤经,方向为上北下南左东右西。图中标注的恒星大小对应其视星等——衡量天体视亮度的标准,较大的圆点代表着较亮的恒星。图中的希腊字母标注着星座中最亮的恒星。这些恒星按亮度排序,最亮的一般被标记为α星,第二亮的一般为β星,等等,不过这种字母排序并不总是和实际亮度排序完全一致。图中虚线标注的是国际天文学联合会划定的星座边界,绿色实线则是一种常见的星座形象连线。需要注意的是,在实际观测时,这些边界与连线都不会出现在天空中。
Credit: 国际天文学联合会天文教育办公室(IAU OAE)根据国际天文学联合会和《天空与望远镜》的原文改编

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 署名 4.0 国际 (CC BY 4.0) icons


Sagittarius is shaped like a teapot pouring tea south west. The ecliptic runs WSW to ENE at the top of the constellation

Sagittarius Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Sagittarius along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Sagittarius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Aquila, Scutum, Serpens Cauda, Ophiuchus, Scorpius, Corona Australis, Telescopium, Microscopium and Capricornus. The brighter stars in Sagittarius form a distinctive teapot shape. Sagittarius lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Sagittarius from mid December to mid January. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Sagittarius. Sagittarius lies south of the celestial equator. The famous teapot asterism is visible for all but the most arctic regions of the world but the most southerly parts of the constellation are not visible in northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Sagittarius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* which lies at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is sits on the western (here right-hand) edge of Sagittarius. Due to it covering an area at the center of our Galaxy, Sagittarius is home to many star clusters including open clusters (marked here with yellow circles) and globular clusters (marked here with yellow circles with + signs superimposed on them). Three nebulae are also marked here with green squares. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 署名 4.0 国际 (CC BY 4.0) icons

Related Activities


Navigation in the Ancient Mediterranean and Beyond

Navigation in the Ancient Mediterranean and Beyond

astroEDU educational activity (links to astroEDU website)
Description: Learn the ancient skill of Celestial Navigation

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons 署名 4.0 国际 (CC BY 4.0) icons
Tags: History , Geography , Celestial navigation
Age Ranges: 14-16 , 16-19
Education Level: Middle School , Secondary
Areas of Learning: Discussion Groups , Modelling , Social Research
Costs: Low Cost
Duration: 1 hour 30 mins
Group Size: Group
Skills: Analysing and interpreting data , Asking questions , Communicating information , Developing and using models , Planning and carrying out investigations , Using mathematics and computational thinking