Metrology of angles in astronomy

Abstract

In astronomy, measurements of angles play a major role. After defining the units in use in astronomy, three methods of measuring angles are presented, with an application to the transit instrument. The interferometric techniques for measuring large angles are described in optical and radio wavelengths. Due to the atmospheric and mechanical limitation on ground, space astrometry has multiple advantages. The satellite Hipparcos is described and the data reduction procedures and results obtained are sketched. In the future, two new astrometric space missions are approved: GAIA, based on Hipparcos principles and SIM, a space interferometer. They are described and the expected accuracies are presented. To cite this article: J. Kovalevsky, C. R. Physique 5 (2004).