<sect1 id="ai-csphere">
<sect1info>
<author>
<firstname>Jason</firstname>
<surname>Harris</surname>
</author>
</sect1info>
<title>The Celestial Sphere</title>
<indexterm><primary>Celestial Sphere</primary>
<seealso>Celestial Coordinate Systems</seealso>
</indexterm>
<para>
The celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere of gigantic radius, centered
on the Earth.  All objects which can be seen in the sky can be thought
of as lying on the surface of this sphere.
</para><para>
Of course, we know that the objects in the sky are not on the surface of
a sphere centered on the Earth, so why bother with such a construct?
Everything we see in the sky is so very far away, that their distances
are impossible to gauge just by looking at them.  Since their distances
are indeterminate, you only need to know the <emphasis>direction</emphasis>
toward the object to locate it in the sky.  In this sense, the celestial sphere
model is a very practical model for mapping the sky.
</para><para>
The directions toward various objects in the sky can be quantified by
constructing a <link linkend="ai-skycoords">Celestial Coordinate System</link>.
</para>
</sect1>
