  The location of objects on the celestial sphere is a fundamental measurement
in astronomy, and the distribution of these objects within the Milky Way is
important for understanding their evolution as well as the large scale
structure of the Galaxy. Here, physical concepts in Galactic astronomy are
illustrated using straightforward mathematics and simplifying assumptions
regarding the geometry of the Galaxy. Specifically, an analytical model for a
smooth distribution of particles in an oblate ellipsoid is used to replicate
the observed distributions of the Galactic coordinates for pulsars and
supernova remnants. The distributions and the Lambert equal area projections
(LEAPs) of the coordinates suggest that the dominant factors determining the
general shape of the distributions are the heavy concentration of objects in
the Galactic plane and the offset of the Galactic center from the coordinate
system origin. The LEAPs and the distributions also show that the dispersion of
pulsars about and along the plane are much larger than that for their
progenitor supernovae. Additionally, the model can be used to derive an
analytical expression for the dispersion measure along any line of sight within
the Galaxy. The expression is used to create a hypothetical dispersion
measure-distance map for pulsars in the Galaxy.
