Angular Separation Between Two Stars

[ps2983]

I aim trying to do a problem where I have 2 Equatorial Coordinates, and I need to find the angular distance in between this two points. Thanks in advance.

 

[lightgrav]

Do you mean RA and dec?

If the stars are close to one another you can use Pythagoras.
declination is already in actual degrees;
Right Ascension must be converted from hours to degrees,
(15 deg/hr) cos(dec) , to compensate for meeting at the pole.

If the stars are far apart, you'll have to make a great circle
that passes through them both.

 

[quicknote]

I can understand your confusion with this problem. The angular separation between two stars refers to the angle formed between the two lines of sight from Earth to each star. This can be calculated using the equatorial coordinates, which are the right ascension (measured along the celestial equator) and declination (measured from the celestial equator) of each star.

To find the angular separation, you can use the spherical law of cosines, which states that the cosine of an angle in a spherical triangle is equal to the sum of the cosine of the two adjacent sides minus the product of their cosines. In this case, the two adjacent sides are the two lines of sight from Earth to each star, and the angle we are trying to find is the angular separation.

Using this formula, you can calculate the angular separation between the two stars. Keep in mind that this value will be in units of degrees, and you may need to convert to other units such as arcminutes or arcseconds. Additionally, the direction of the angle (east or west) will depend on the order in which you subtract the right ascension values.

I hope this helps clarify the concept of angular separation between two stars. If you need further assistance, I recommend consulting a professional astronomer or utilizing resources such as online calculators or textbooks on celestial navigation. Best of luck with your problem!