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TransitCircle_USNO.jpg (325 × 324 pixels, file size: 27 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Description The 6-inch Transit Circle at USNO was built in 1898 by Warner & Swasey, and was used continuously from then until 1995. It is a highly specialized instrument, rigidly mounted so that it can only look along a line passing from north to south through the zenith (the point directly overhead). A star's position is measured as it crosses, or "transits", a set of crosshairs mounted at the telescope's focal plane. The time of the star's transit, measured against a celestial reference frame, gives its "Right Ascension" or celestial longitude. The star's altitude is measured directly at the telescope, where two circles, each divided into 7200 sectors, are read by the observer. The star's altitude can then be converted directly into its "Declination", or celestial latitude. Transit Circles could determine stellar positions to accuracies approaching 0.05 arcseconds.
Date Unknown date
Source http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNOTransit.shtml
Author US Naval Observatory


Public domain
This image is a work of a U.S. military or Department of Defense employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States.

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current17:01, 25 September 2007Thumbnail for version as of 17:01, 25 September 2007325 × 324 (27 KB)Vesta~commonswiki{{PD-USGov-Military}}

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