The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is the angular aperture. The angular diameter can alternatively be thought of as the angular displacement through which an eye or camera must rotate to look from one side of an apparent circle to the opposite side. Humans can resolve with their naked eyes diameters down to about 1 arcminute. This corresponds to 0.3 m at a 1 km distance, or to perceiving Venus as a disk under optimal conditions.
Angular diameter: the angle subtended by an object
An 19th century depiction of the apparent size of the Sun as seen from the Solar System's planets (incl. 72 Feronia and the then most outlying known asteroid, here called Maximiliana).
A milliradian is an SI derived unit for angular measurement which is defined as a thousandth of a radian (0.001 radian). Milliradians are used in adjustment of firearm sights by adjusting the angle of the sight compared to the barrel. Milliradians are also used for comparing shot groupings, or to compare the difficulty of hitting different sized shooting targets at different distances. When using a scope with both mrad adjustment and a reticle with mrad markings, the shooter can use the reticle as a ruler to count the number of mrads a shot was off-target, which directly translates to the sight adjustment needed to hit the target with a follow-up shot. Optics with mrad markings in the reticle can also be used to make a range estimation of a known size target, or vice versa, to determine a target size if the distance is known, a practice called "milling".
The PSO-1 reticle in a Dragunov sniper rifle has markings with 1-mrad spacing, which can be used to compensate for wind drift, impact correction or range estimation.
The Palais de Rumine, one of the former buildings of the University of Lausanne.
Mildot chart as used by snipers.
Estimating range using the hands on an extended arm as a reference for the angular size in mrad.