Central angle intersection points and of the legs of the angle with the circle form a diameter, then is a straight angle. (In radians, .) Let be the minor arc of the circle between points and , and let be the radius of the circle. If the central angle is subtended by , then If the central angle is not subtended by the minor arc , then is a reflex angle and If a tangent at and a tangent at intersect at the exterior point , then denoting the center as , the angles (convex) and are supplementary (sum to 180°). A
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