An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A coordinate system that uses the observer's location as its central reference point. Usually, the difference in the position of an object in the sky measured using topocentric and geocentric coordinates is very small because most celestial objects are so far away. However, for nearby objects this is not true. The Sun, for example, may appear displaced as much as eight arcseconds from its geocentric position, and the Moon by as much as one degree.

Topocentric, from topo- combining form of Gk. topos "place" + centric, from → center; → coordinate.

Hamârâhâ, → coordinate; jâ-markazi "topocentric," from jâ "place" (from Mid.Pers. giyâg "place;" O.Pers. ā-vahana- "place, village;" Av. vah- "to dwell, stay," vanhaiti "he dwells, stays;" Skt. vásati "he dwells;" Gk. aesa (nukta) "to pass (the night);" Ossetic wat "room; bed; place;" Tokharian B wäs- "to stay, wait;" PIE base ues- "to stay, live, spend the night") + markazi, of, pertaining to markaz, → center.