In studying the movement of heavenly bodies, it is important that there is a method that can guide the observer in determining the exact position of the stars by giving these names. This can only be done through establishing the azimuth. The azimuth refers to the measurement of angles in a spherical coordinate system.
The said angle starts from the North point and ends to the object that is being observed. The “vertex” is the observer on the ground. Just like in planar trigonometry where the law of sine and cosine is used to determine distance and positions of an object with respect to the reference points around it, spherical trigonometry works the same way, too.
However, the azimuth and the altitude involved in its computation involve more factors such as the location of the observer and the exact time. This is because the earth is constantly rotating and revolving around the sun, hence, the position of celestial objects does not remain the same. Another factor to consider is that the surface of the earth is not flat, and for this reason certain heavenly bodies appear to be farther or closer, depending on the location of the observer.
Determining the celestial object’s azimuth given the aforementioned factors can give an accurate representation of the map of the stars in the outer space.