Azimuth is the horizontal component of a direction (compass direction), measured around the horizon usually from North toward the East, i.e. clockwise and is usually measured in degrees. It may less commonly be measured from the South point. Azimuth is often, some consider incorrectly, referred to as a bearing.

In the horizontal coordinate system (also used in celestial navigation and satellite dish installation) azimuth is one of the two coordinates. The other is altitude (sometimes called elevation above the horizon). See also: sat finder.

In three-dimensional polar coordinate systems, including cylindrical coordinates and spherical coordinates, the azimuth of a point is the angle between the positive x-axis and the projection of a vector to the point onto the xy-plane. In cylindrical coordinates, theta $\backslash theta$ is almost universally used to represent the azimuth. Although notation varies in spherical coordinates according to different conventions, the azimuth is usually either theta $\backslash theta$ or phi $\backslash phi$.

In aviation, azimuth is used to determine headings or the direction in which to fly.

For magnetic tape drives, azimuth refers to the angle between the tape head(s) and the tape medium.

See also

• Azimuthal quantum number
• Longitude
• Magnetic declination
• Zenith
• Cascading Style Sheet Values#azimuth

External links

• Longitude and latitude
• More complete latitude and longitude database
• Satellite finder with magnetic north, azimuth & elevation calculator
• Solar Azimuth function for Excel, CAD or your other programs

Spherical astronomy | Celestial coordinate system | Angle | Navigation | Arabic words

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