Documentation on offset
Key: offset
A number of Miriad tasks either take or return celestial coordinates
as offsets from some reference position -- invariably the observing
center or the reference pixel. Although the `offset' keyword is
generally used, the fitting tasks include offsets in their
"spar" keyword, whereas IMPOS uses the "coord" keyword.
Offset celestial coordinates are always given in arcseconds on the
sky. The offset, (x,y), is related to a true sky coordinate, (RA,DEC),
by
x = (RA - RA0) * cos(DEC0)
y = DEC - DEC0
(These equations should be viewed as a definition, rather than a
small angle approximation). Tasks invariably convert the offset
coordinates to true sky coordinates before further converting them
to something more computationally convenient (e.g. pixel coordinates
or direction cosines).
Generated by rsault@atnf.csiro.au on 11 Jul 1996