# Calculating azimuth of Polaris **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calculating-azimuth-of-polaris/378343 "2006-10-29T17:17:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calculating-azimuth-of-polaris/378343/1 "2006-10-29T17:17:16Z")
Given an accurate UTC and latitude and longitude, what’s an easy way to find an azimuth for Polaris? I don’t need to do this much, so some web-based calculator would be ideal. I probably would do it for times within the last 24 hours or times within the next 24 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calculating-azimuth-of-polaris/378343/2 "2006-10-29T18:59:56Z")
I’m not quite sure how to calculate the azimuth, but I did find [this site](http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/#Telescope) that allows you to calculate the right ascension and declination for stars - is that a start? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calculating-azimuth-of-polaris/378343/3 "2006-10-29T19:05:46Z")
Is [this table](http://www.tpub.com/content/administration/14220/css/14220_267.htm) good enough? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calculating-azimuth-of-polaris/378343/4 "2006-10-30T13:16:15Z")
Dervorin, thanks, but I already have tables that list dec and RA for stars - they don’t even need calculating, as they never change, or at least not within a lifetime. Q.E.D., thanks, but I’ve seen this site. It would be useful except I don’t have that almanac and I have tried to find cheap copies but not turned one up. I do actually have an astronomical almanac, and not that many years out of date, but their approach is mathematically sophisticated enough that after a few minutes looking at it I still wasn’t sure how to start (the procedure they outline for use by professional astronomers covers about 6 pages and involves iterative methods and spherical geometry that is gonna make my head spin). I’m starting to lean towards doing this from scratch, which will be way better than the tenth of a degree my project requires, but I thought there’d be a site out there somewhere that would do it. After a bit of searching on the web, tho, I didn’t turn one up. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calculating-azimuth-of-polaris/378343/5 "2006-10-30T18:08:18Z")
I don’t understand the question. Isn’t the azimuth of Polaris always zero? Of course it does describe a circle around the celestial pole of about a degree or so–is those variations in azimuth that you mean? (You do mean azimuth, or directional bearing, right? Altitude would be your lattitude, subject to the same variation mentioned above.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calculating-azimuth-of-polaris/378343/6 "2006-10-30T18:12:45Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Of course it does describe a circle around the celestial pole of about a degree or so–is those variations in azimuth that you mean? [/QUOTE] Yes, it varies about 2 degrees from zero, depending on when you observe it–see my linked chart.