Solid angle

A solid angle is the three dimensional analog of the ordinary angle. Instead of two lines meeting at a vertex, though, one needs a three dimensional figure that meets at a point. Simple examples of objects that do this are a cone or a pyramid. The SI unit of solid angle is the steradian (symbol sr), which is equal to radian².

To find the solid angle that the object covers, imagine a sphere centered at the point of the object. Now, divide the surface area of the part of the sphere that is contained within the object by the total area of the sphere to obtain the fractional area.

By analogy with the two dimensional case--

To get an angle, imagine two lines passing through the center of a unit circle. The length of the arc between the lines on the unit sphere is the angle, in radians.

To get a solid angle, imagine three or more planes passing through the center of a unit sphere. The area of the surface between the planes on the unit sphere is the solid angle, in steradians.

To obtain the solid angle in streadians or radians squared, multiply the fractional area by 4π. Solid Angle can also be measured in degrees².

To obtain the solid angle in degrees squared, multiply the fractional area by 4 x 180²/π which is equal to 129600/π.

Solid angle is useful for...

• defining luminosity
• calculating spherical excess E of a spherical triangle