astrogeodetic datum orientation

Adjustment of the ellipsoid of reference for a particular datum so that the sum of the squares of deflections of the vertical at selected points throughout the geodetic network is made as small as possible.

Related terms:

• astrogeodetic leveling
• astrogeodetic deflection
• Datum
• astrogeodetic undulations
• tidal datum plane
• tidal datum
• geodetic datum
• astrogeodetic
• orientation contrast (OC)
• orientation diagram