Excellent. One minor point; for SLC it would be more correct to state that the distance from the north celestial pole to the zenith is 90 - 40 3/4 degrees = 50 1/4 degrees. Polaris (the North Pole Star) is 0.7-degrees from the NCP, so it's distance from the zenith varies by almost a degree and a half over the course of a day (or the same time each night over a span of six months, from upper culmination to lower). You gotta love the Encyclopaedia Kurtannica. ;o) On 6/25/07, Kurt Fisher <fisherka@csolutions.net> wrote:
Additionally, the distance from the North Pole Star to directly over your head - the zenith - is 90 minus your geographical latitude. This is 90 - 40 3/4 degrees or the difference of 50 1/4 degrees. The angular size of this span remains constant throughout the year. The altitude of the North Star about your north local horizon is equal to your geographical latitude - 40 3/4 degrees - and remains constant throughout the year. When you set up an equatorial mounted telescope at Salt Lake City, this is the angle between the telescope's central polar axis and northern horizon. If you build a sundial with a triangular style, this is included angle of the sundial's triangular style relative to the north horizon.