km2deg

Convert spherical distance from kilometers to degrees

Syntax

deg = km2deg(km)

deg = km2deg(km,radius)

deg = km2deg(km,sphere)

Description

deg = km2deg(km) converts distances from kilometers to degrees, as measured along a great circle on a sphere with a radius of 6371 km, the mean radius of the Earth.

deg = km2deg(km,radius) converts distances from kilometers to degrees, as measured along a great circle on a sphere having the specified radius.

deg = km2deg(km,sphere) converts distances from kilometers to degrees, as measured along a great circle on a sphere approximating an object in the Solar System.

Examples

Convert Kilometers to Degrees

Two cities are 340 km apart. How many degrees of arc is that?

deg = km2deg(340)

deg =
    3.0577

How many degrees would it be if the cities were on Mars?

deg = km2deg(340,'mars')

deg =
    5.7465

Input Arguments

km — Distance in kilometers

numeric array

Distance in kilometers, specified as a numeric array.

Data Types: single | double

radius — Radius

6371 (default) | numeric scalar

Radius of sphere in units of kilometers, specified as a numeric scalar.

sphere — Sphere

'sun' | 'moon' | 'mercury' | 'venus' | 'earth' | ...

Sphere approximating an object in the Solar System, specified as one of the following values: 'sun', 'moon', 'mercury', 'venus', 'earth', 'mars', 'jupiter', 'saturn', 'uranus', 'neptune', or 'pluto'. The value of sphere is case-insensitive.

Output Arguments

deg — Distance in degrees

numeric array

Distance in degrees, returned as a numeric array.

Data Types: single | double