Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
3,904,148,644 visitors served.
forum Join the Word of the Day Mailing List For webmasters
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

Reference Point
(redirected from reference points)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus 0.01 sec.
reference point [′ref·rəns ‚pȯint]
(navigation)
A point to which other points, lines, and so forth are referred, usually in terms of distance or direction, or both.

Reference Point 

a celestial body used in space navigation for orientation or for the solution of problems. The sun, planets, and bright stars can all serve as reference points. A convenient reference point is the bright southern star Canopus, which is situated relatively close to the perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. For interplanetary voyages, which generally take place within this plane, the angle between the lines connecting a spacecraft with the sun and with Canopus varies within narrow limits, thus simplifying navigation. Technical difficulties are encountered in the use of faint stars as reference points.



Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Feedback
Mentioned in?  References in periodicals archive?   Encyclopedia browser?   Full browser?
No references found
 
We have reference points for all locations on the earth.
Therefore, it can fix on the position of a location point as long as the distance from this location point to three reference points is known.
Type-II reference points are separated by an intermediate surplus production low (type III).
 
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Terms of Use | Privacy policy | Feedback | Advertise with Us | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc.
Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.