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meridian altitude

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meridian altitude

[mə′rid·ē·ən ‚al·tə‚tüd]
(astronomy)
The altitude of a celestial body when it is on the celestial meridian of the observer, bearing 000° or 180° true.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

meridian altitude

The altitude of a celestial body when the celestial meridian of the observer is either 000° or 180°.
An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
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References in periodicals archive
He measured the time interval between the meridian transit of the sun (or another reference star with known longitude) and that of the celestial object whose coordinates were desired, and the meridian altitude of the object.
Ghazan Khan's astronomical innovations at Maragha observatory
On this day, a meridian altitude of the sun was taken, which shows 76[degrees]30'N as their most likely position.
If we take it that it was the upper rim of the sun that appeared in the SSE and disappeared in the SSW, the sun's meridian altitude would normally have been about 45', and the window of the duct would have had to extend over 1[degrees] above the horizon to make the upper limb fit inside it.
Astronomical observations during Willem Barents's third voyage to the North (1596-97)
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