Howcast
Watch more Intermediate Math Skills videos: http://www.howcast.com/videos/259995-How-to-Calculate-Azimuth
Yes, it’s spherical trigonometry – but it’s not rocket science! Azimuth is simply the angle of an object in the sky along the horizon.
Step 1: Determine latitude and longitude
Determine the latitude and longitude of the starting point, or observation point, from which you’ll calculate the angle. Use L to represent the starting point latitude.
Tip
Find latitude and longitude by going to the location with a GPS device.
Step 2: Find object’s coordinates
Find the latitude and longitude of the celestial object. Use D to represent the latitude of the point on the earth where the desired object is straight overhead.
Step 3: Find t
Find the meridian angle, represented by t, also known as the local hour angle – or LHA. It is the difference between the observer’s longitude and the longitude of the celestial object.
Step 4: Calculate the altitude
Calculate the altitude of the object, called H. Multiply the sine of L by the sine of D. Then multiply the cosine of L by the cosine of D, by the cosine of t. Add these two products and determine the arcsine of the sum.
Step 5: Compute azimuth
Find the azimuth angle, Z, by multiplying the cosine of D by the sine of t, and dividing the product by the cosine of H. Then determine the arcsine of the result, which will give you the azimuth angle.
Did You Know?
The distance between Earth and our moon is, on average, 238,900 miles.
Source
Sailors had to master this, before navigating, and that, until not many years ago.
Totally rocket science.
Another unhelpful video.
CAN THE MUSIC
Oh that's all. Good grief.
that easy huh well let me just figure the celestial object by simply guessing, yeah right
FFS! Just use a damn sextant!
Oh.
music in the background is so distracting ..
i do it for college
I am a Quartermaster first class in the US Navy, I can figure this out without a calculator!
I'd rather use π/2 – Latitude*π/180° for the values of H, L, and D. Then, the first formula is simply the Spherical Law of cosines, cos a = cos b cos c + sin b sin c cos A.
I don't understand why H is called the "altitude" though, I am guessing it is not the same as elevation in this instance.
2nd eq. is law of sines? but I don't understand the meaning of H, except that sin H sin Z = sin D sin t
you must be really bored to do this for no reason lol
Now let's see you do that without a calculator.
WTH, if this isn't rocket science, then what is rocket science?