• In the previous slide, we had looked at the position of a star

such as the sun in the sky thus:

• We drew a meridian circle that was passing through the
star’s position which we called the declination circle or the
Hour circle.
• We used this to define the declination of the star along as the
arc of the declination circle measured from the equator up to
the position of the star.
• We also likewise drew a vertical circle passing through the
star.
• We defined the altitude h as the arc of this vertical circle
measured between the horizon and the star.
In Diagram, we draw a Vertical
circle ZSS’ through the Star
position S.
The arc along this circle from S’
on the horizon and the star S
shows how high above the
horizon the star is.
This is the altitude of the star
ho.
Notice the angle Ao at Z.
This angle is the angle made by
the vertical circle with the
observer’s Meridian.
It is called the azimuth angle.
Notice it is also equivalent to
the arc distance NS subtended
along equator
• The spherical triangle formed by the arcs of the Observers
Meridian, The vertical circle through a star and the
declination circle through the star is called the ZPS triangle or
Astronomical Triangle.
• For any triangle, we can solve it completely using a
mathematical method called trigonometry.
• If the sides of the triangle are straight lines in a plane, the
triangle is a plane triangle and would be solved with plane
trigonometry.
• If however, as in this instance, the sides are arcs then we use
the laws of spherical trigonometry to solve them.
 Solutions of Spherical Triangles.
• A spherical triangle is made up of three arcs of great circles.

• The sum of the 3 angles is always greater than 180°.

• There are two fundamental formulae that relate the sides

and angles of a spherical triangle called the sine rule and the
cosine rule.
• Any spherical triangle ABC with sides a, b, c and
corresponding angles A, B, and C satisfies these two
fundamental equations (sine formula, and the cosine formula)
Formulae for solving spherical triangles.
 Solving the astronomical triangle for Azimuths.

Using the astronomical (ZPS) triangle, the cosine formula for spherical triangles given
by:
,
into which we substitute the values of the sides and the angle Z to obtain;

This simplified to which yields: 

• In this formula, the arc along the vertical circle
between the horizon and S is the altitude, ho.
• The altitude h can be measured directly with a
theodolite on the field.
• The latitude of the observers position can be
obtained using our android phone app.
• So the only quantity we need to find in order to
obtain the angle Z is the declination .

• Declination values are calculated and tabulated in a

book called a star almanac for land surveyors so we
can obtain it from that table.
• In the above table, declination for the sun is recorded for every
day of the year at 6 hour intervals.
• So we have a recording for 0hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, and 18
hours.
• Supposing I am looking for a declination value of 3:45 pm, I
know its value is between that of 12 hours and 18 hours.
• Therefore knowing the value for 12 hours, and the change that
has occurred between 12 hours and 18 hours (6 hours interval), I
can interpolate the change for 3:45 hours which we must add up
to the 12 hour value to obtain declination for my 15h 45 minutes.
Q. An observation taken at latitude 5°
54′ 23″ N to the sun on the 2 of April
nd

with a theodolite gave an altitude of

36° 44′ 35″. If the time recorded was
16h:20m, find:
(a)The Suns declination
(b)The Azimuth angle Z.
(c) The azimuth of the sun.
 The Azimuth
• If we consider projections on the horizon, the Azimuth
angle is the same as the angle a line joining the center
to foot of the vertical circle trough the star makes with
the North –South axis.
• This angle therefore rightly defines the true bearing of
the star.
• Since the star can be in the East or in the West, we use
the convention that for an East star, the Azimuth A is
the same as the angle Z at the zenith but for a West
star, the Azimuth is given by A = 360° - Z.
• And we see from definition that the azimuth is the same
as the true bearing of the celestial body on the
horizontal plane.
 Determination of the azimuth of Ro from that of the star.
• Suppose the horizontal angle between a reference
line called Ro and the star is measured, then to
obtain the azimuth of the reference line Ro from that
of the star, consider the following two situations:
• a) East star
Let the required azimuth
of the line Ro be βo. Then
βo = A – α, where A is the
Azimuth of the star, and α
is the included horizontal
angle between Ro and the
star.
 • (b) For a star in West (Western Star)

In this case, the azimuth angle Z obtained from the

astronomical triangle must be subtracted from 360o to obtain
the Azimuth of the star.
i.e. for west star, Azimuth = 360o- Z.
Then Azimuth of Ro= Azimuth of star –α.
In general, the azimuth of line Ro is always obtained by
subtracting the observed horizontal angle from the azimuth of
the star noting that for an eastern star, azimuth of star is the
same as that obtained from the solution of the astronomical
• So now all of us know how to compute the azimuth of a line on the
ground from that of the star when we have observed the stars
altitude and recorded also the time:
• We then used the star almanac, to extract the declination of the
star and used the astronomical triangle to solve for the azimuth
angle for the star.
• Then noting whether it was an east star observation or a west star
observation, we deduced the azimuth of the star thus:
• For East star, Azimuth A = azimuth angle Z
• For west star Azimuth A = 360- azimuth angle Z
• Then once we obtained the azimuth of the star, we said the
azimuth of the line RO on the ground = azimuth of star – included
horizontal angle.
• Two important corrections we need to apply to our
altitudes before using them in our calculations are
refraction and parallax correction.
• Other sources of error such as instrumental errors
and errors due to the difficulty in targeting the sun at
its centre are eliminated by field observation
procedures.
 Refraction correction
• A ray of light passing from a medium to a denser
one is refracted towards the normal at the surface
boundary where the ray crosses from one of the
media to the other.
• Considering that for space, the density of air in the
atmosphere is denser than the vacuum above it, a
ray of light from a heavenly body will pass from a
rarer medium to a denser one as it comes into the
earth’s atmosphere.
• To an observer, on earth, the body therefore
appears to be at a higher altitude than its actual
position.
• Let be the refractive indices of the two media
respectively.

• Then we know from Snell’s law that if i were the angle

of incidence and r that of refraction, then

• From the diagram, the observed altitude is h o instead of

the correct altitude hc.

• Where angle r (see diagram), is the correction due to

refraction.
• With the notation of the diagram, the
zenith distance Zo is 90o -ho.
• Put the angle of incidence i = Zo + r, and
the angle of refraction r = Zo where Zo is
the observed zenith distance 90o – ho.
• Then, μ1Sin(Zo + r) = μ2SinZo which we
may write as Sin(Zo + r) = μoSinZo
• since medium (1) is vacuum and μo is the
relative refractive index of air.
• Expanding the above yields,

When r is small, then Cos r =1 and Sin r = r in

radians.
So we can simplify the expression as,

Here r is the angular correction to apply because of

refraction.
If we now put Zo = 90o – h, r = (μo – 1) tan (90o – h).
• Now tan (90o – h) = cot h
• Therefore r = (μo – 1) Cot h.
• The relative refractive index of air at
standard temperature and pressure
(273.16K, 760mm.Hg) is 1.00029.
• Converting r from radians to seconds,
using the relation that
• We obtain on substitution, correction r’’=
59.8’’ Cot h.
• For conditions different from standard, the
correction must be modified by multiplying by f
where the factor

• where pressure is measured in mm Hg.

• The factor f can be obtained from the ideal
equation of state P= nRT.

• The star almanac documents values for both the

quantity ro and the corrections f.
• So when the star almanac is used, the refraction
correction is r = - rof.
 Parallax Correction to Altitudes
• Parallax refers to the apparent change in the observed position
of an object as seen against a background because the position
of the observer has changed.
• In astronomical observations the celestial sphere is the
background against which observations are made.
• The position of the sun as seen on this background will depend
on the observer’s position on the earth because the earth’s
radius is not altogether negligible as compared to the distance
to the sun.

• In the fig. below, ho is the observed altitude on the surface

instead of the centre of the earth.
• But the required altitude since positions of the sun as tabulated
in the star almanac are referred to the centre of the earth is h.
• This correction must be added to our
observed altitudes.
• From parallax correction

• If D >>R, then correction is zero.

• For the stars, D>>R, so parallax correction is
zero, hence we need not apply parallax
correction in the case of the stars.
 Field Observations required for azimuth calculations
by altitude method.
• A theodolite is used to measure accurately the
altitude of a star.
• The measurements of altitudes are used to calculate
the azimuth of the stars and then for survey lines.
• The following measurements must be made on the
field to enable calculation of azimuths by altitude
method:
1. The altitude of the star
2. The horizontal angle between some reference
object Ro and the star
3. The exact time at the instance of observation.
• These measurements are recorded in an angle
book.
• For the sun, equal number of observations
must be taken to alternate limbs to eliminate
the error due to the semi-diameter of the Sun.
• The following sequence of field procedure is
adopted.
1. The theodolite is first set up and adjusted to
create a horizontal plane.
2. The thermometer and barometer readings as
well as other necessary data such as place,
the date, star are also booked.
3.The observer then targets and gets the sun or
star in the field of the telescope telling the
booker to be ready and as soon as the sun’s
limb is in contact with the cross hairs, the
observer says ‘on’ and the booker notes the
time.
4.The observer then reads the vertical circle
and the horizontal circle.
5.The observer changes face and repeats the
observations.
6.The results are recorded in a field book as
below:
7. Scale the latitude and longitude of the theodolite’s station from a toposheet or from
from a mobile app.

8. Using the star almanac, determine the values of the sun’s

declination (δ) and the correction for refraction.
9. Solve for the azimuth of the star using the ZPS triangle.
10.Deduce the azimuth of the line from the azimuth of the star
• For an East star the Azimuth A is the
same as the angle Z but for a West
star, the Azimuth is given by A =
360° - Z.
• The altitude h must be corrected for
refraction and parallax before it is
used in the calculation for azimuth
• As discussed in the earlier section, the calculation
of azimuth from the astronomical triangle using
observed values of altitude enables us to determine
the true bearing of survey lines.
 Instrumental corrections
• Most instrumental errors such as
collimation and vertical index errors are
eliminated by adopting proper field
procedures such as:
– making sure that the instrument is properly
leveled
– the theodolite bubble is in the center of its
run before observations are taken
– taking observations on both faces of the
theodolite.
 Solar or Stellar Observations?
•We have seen from the correction for parallax
that, for the stars, parallax is negligible since
D>>R, so observations with the stars would yield
more accurate results than the sun.
•Furthermore, stellar observations have the
following advantages over solar observations:
–The center of the stars can easily be bisected
than getting the tangency to the limbs of the sun.
–There is a range of stars available and so those in
the most favorable positions can be selected for
convenience of observation.
 – We do not need a dark glass for the observations so the
difficulty of causing shifts when the glass is being
tilted on the eyepiece each time is avoided.
– East and West stars can be observed at the same time.
– Because temperatures remain quite constant during
the nights, refraction variations are avoided.
• However, the disadvantages of using the star are:
– We need to have an illuminated Ro and light to enable
us to read the circle of the theodolite.
– Accurate identification of the stars used in the
observation is necessary with the help of star charts.
 Convergence of Meridians
•We are already aware that in reality,
Meridian lines are not parallel as
portrayed on Grids but converge at the
Poles.
•The convergence angle γ at a point on the
projection is defined by the angle
measured from the projected meridian,
which defines true north, to a grid line of
constant distance also defining grid north.
• Convergence must be added to a grid
bearing to obtain true Bearings.
• We can compute the grid bearing from
the true or geodetic azimuth of the line.
• The true azimuth can be determined
from astronomical observations, for
example. We use the grid convergence as
follows:

•
• The Grid convergence depends upon the distance of the
point from the central meridian, which is a function of
longitude (actually difference in longitude from the
central meridian), adjusted by the latitude.
• For longer lines, the grid convergence will change from
one end of the line to the other, so we must compute
a correction for this.
• This correction is called the arc-to-chord or T-t
correction as the geodetic line appears as a curve
on the projection.
• For the secant transverse Mercator the convergence
may be expressed either in terms of the geographical
coordinates as:
• where