celestial latitude

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. the angular distance from the ecliptic of a point on the celestial sphere.

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celestial latitude British  

noun

1. Also called: ecliptic latitude.  the angular distance of a celestial body north or south from the ecliptic

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celestial latitude Scientific  

1. On the celestial sphere, the position of a celestial object north or south of the ecliptic. Celestial latitude is measured in degrees along a great circle drawn through the object being measured and the poles of the ecliptic, with positive values north of the ecliptic and negative values south of it, so that the ecliptic itself is 0° and the north and south ecliptic poles are +90° and −90° respectively.

2. Compare celestial longitude See more at ecliptic coordinate system

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Example Sentences

Chunfen, which means spring equinox, falls when the sun is exactly at the celestial latitude of zero degrees.

From The Wall Street Journal

For some reason astronomers have not, as we might expect, applied to these measurements the terms ‘celestial longitude’ and ‘celestial latitude.’

From Project Gutenberg

Here is given a list of the brighter stars with their positions respectively in the heavens, i.e., their celestial longitude or R.A. on page 94 and their celestial latitude or declination on page 95.

From Project Gutenberg