Editing Galactic coordinate system (section)

{{short description|Celestial coordinate system in spherical coordinates, with the Sun as its center}}
<!-- linked from redirects [[North galactic pole]] and [[South galactic pole]] -->
[[File:Artist's impression of the Milky Way (updated - annotated).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Artist's depiction of the Milky Way Galaxy showing the origin and orientation of galactic longitude. The galactic longitude ({{math|''l''}}) runs from the Sun upwards in the image through the center of the galaxy. The galactic latitude ({{math|''b''}}) is perpendicular to the image (i.e. coming out of the image) and also centered on the Sun.]]

The '''galactic coordinate system''' is a [[celestial coordinate system]] in [[spherical coordinates]], with the [[Sun]] as its center, the primary direction aligned with the approximate center of the [[Milky Way]] [[Galaxy]], and the [[fundamental plane (spherical coordinates)|fundamental plane]] parallel to an approximation of the [[galactic plane]] but offset to its north. It uses the [[Right-hand rule|right-handed convention]], meaning that coordinates are positive toward the north and toward the east in the [[fundamental plane (spherical coordinates)|fundamental plane]].<ref name="Blaauwetal" />