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Nadir
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Celestial coordinates seen by an observer in mid-northern latitudes. His celestial meridian is a great circle passing through his zenith and the poles. His astronomical horizon meets the celestial sphere at infinity.
Earth's celestial sphere: Stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies
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The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet
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Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.
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Celestial coordinates seen by an observer in mid-northern latitudes. His celestial meridian is a great circle passing through his zenith and the poles. His astronomical horizon meets the celestial sphere at infinity.
Celestial coordinates seen by an observer in mid-northern latitudes. His celestial meridian is a great circle passing through his zenith and the poles. His astronomical horizon meets the celestial sphere at infinity.

Nadir

astronomy
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Earth's celestial sphere: Stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies
Earth's celestial sphere: Stars, planets, and other heavenly bodiesExplanation of the celestial sphere.
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Nadir, a term used in astronomy for the point in the heavens exactly opposite to the zenith, the zenith and nadir being the two poles of the horizon. That is, the zenith is directly overhead, the nadir directly underfoot.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.