Position angle a hypothetical binary star with a PA of 135 degrees, that means an imaginary line in the eyepiece drawn from the north celestial pole to the primary (P) would be offset from the secondary (S) such that the NCP-P-S angle would be 135 degrees. When graphing visual binary orbits, the NCP line is traditionally drawn downward—that is, with north at bottom—and PA is measured counterclockwise. Also the direction of the proper motion can for example be given by its position angle. The definition of position angle is also applied to extended objects like galaxies, where it refers to the angle
Angle approximately the measure of the angle in radians. In rational geometry the "spread" between two lines is defined as the square of the sine of the angle between the lines. As the sine of an angle and the sine of its supplementary angle are the same, any angle of rotation that maps one of the lines into the other leads to the same value for the spread between the lines. Astronomers measure angular separation of objects in degrees from their point of observation. These measurements clearly depend on the individual subject, and the above should be treated as rough rule