Bearing (direction)

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

In the contexts of geometric direction, navigation, missile guidance, etc., bearing is a superset of azimuth. Assuming two objects are on a common plane, the bearing from one to the other may be absolute or compass, defining the north-south-east-west direction of a line drawn from the starting object to the target.

A relative bearing assumes the starting object's "front" (i.e., the bow of a seagoing vessel, the muzzle of a gun, or the nose of an aircraft) is at zero degrees, or some other measurement of angular relationship. Assuming the degree system, the relative bearing is measured clockwise from the zero position, so a target at the "three o'clock" or right angle position would be at relative bearing 090.

If the "front" is traveling due north, the relative and compass bearins will be identical. If, however, a ship were traveling due east (i.e., compass bearing 090), the relative bearing to a ship at "three o'clock" would be 0 degrees.