Name: Loraine A.

Senillo

The equator of a rotating spheroid is the parallel at which latitude is defined to be 0°. It is the
imaginary line on the spheroid, equidistant from its poles, dividing it into northern and southern
hemispheres.

A prime meridian is the meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at

which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the
180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great circle.

Latitude is the measurement of distance north or south of the Equator. It is measured with 180
imaginary lines that form circles around the Earth east-west, parallel to the Equator. These lines
are known as parallels. A circle of latitude is an imaginary ring linking all points sharing a
parallel.

Longitude is the measurement east or west of the prime meridian. Longitude is measured by
imaginary lines that run around the Earth vertically (up and down) and meet at the North and
South Poles. These lines are known as meridians. Each meridian measures one arcdegree
of longitude.

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. This is
the parallel of latitude that (in 2000) runs 66.56083 degrees north of the Equator. Everything
north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south of this circle is the
Northern Temperate Zone.

The Antarctic Circle is a parallel of latitude on the Earth at approximately 66.5 degrees south
of the equator. On the day of the southern summer solstice (around December 22 each year),
an observer on the Antarctic Circle will see the Sun above the horizon for a full 24 hours.

The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly
circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. ... Its Southern
Hemisphere counterpart, marking the most southerly position at which the Sun can be directly
overhead, is the Tropic of Capricorn.

The Tropic of Capricorn is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point on the December
solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be directly overhead. Its northern
equivalent is the Tropic of Cancer.