What is a meridian? What is latitude?

What is a meridian?

A meridian is a semi-circle on the Earth's surface, connecting the Poles, pointing North - South and cutting perpendicular to the equator. The longitude line is about 20,000km long.

The meridian running through the astronomical observatory in Greenwich, London is the 0° meridian, also known as the prime meridian. The plane of the 0° meridian and the 180° meridian divides the Earth into the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere.

Different types of meridians include:

1. Magnetic meridians are meridians connecting the magnetic poles.
2. Geographic meridians are meridians connecting the Poles.
3. Map meridians are meridian lines drawn on a map.

What is latitude?

A parallel is an imaginary circle connecting all points of the same latitude, oriented from east to west on Earth. The position on the latitude is determined based on the coordinates of longitude. The point of intersection between a meridian and a parallel is always perpendicular. The closer to the Earth's poles, the smaller the diameter of the parallel.

There are 5 special latitude lines to mark the Earth map including:

1. Arctic Circle (66° 33' 38" north latitude)
2. Tropic of Cancer (23° 26' 22" north latitude)
3. Equator (0° north latitude)
4. Tropic of Capricorn (23° 26' 22" south latitude)
5. Antarctic Circle (66° 33' 38" south latitude)

The Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Capricorn are the northern and southern boundaries of lands where at least one time of the year the Sun can be seen passing overhead.

The North Polar Circle and the South Polar Circle are the boundaries of regions where the Sun can be seen during at least one midsummer day of the year.

How many meridians and latitudes are there on Earth?

There are a total of 181 lines of latitude on Earth, including the equator which is a special line of latitude. The original latitude is the equator. Latitude lines are parallel to each other and never intersect.

There are a total of 360 meridians on Earth. The Prime Meridian is numbered 0° and runs through the Greenwich Observatory on the outskirts of London, England. The meridians will meet at the North Pole and the South Pole.

The tropics and polar circles on Earth

What is Tropic of Cancer?

The Tropic of Cancer is the name of two parallels with latitudes +23°26'22' and -23°26'22' north and south of the Earth's equator, which are the boundaries of the temperate and tropical belts. .

Thus, on Earth there are two Tropics of Cancer: the Tropic of Capricorn, also known as the Tropic of Cancer, and the Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Tropic of Capricorn.

What is the polar circle?

The polar circles are imaginary lines on the Earth's surface. At the points from these lines to the two poles, the phenomenon of polar day or night (white night or day without sun) sometimes occurs. On Earth there are two polar circles (the North Polar Circle and the South Polar Circle).

There are 2 polar circles: North polar circle: 66033B and South polar circle: 66033N

Longitude, latitude and geographical coordinates

The longitude of a place is the distance in degrees from the meridian passing through that point to the prime meridian.

The latitude of a point is the distance in degrees from the parallel passing through that point to the original parallel.

Geographic coordinates are the intersection between the longitude and latitude of that point on the map or Earth

Micah Soto

Update 08 July 2024