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The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude , about 40,075 km (24,901 mi) in circumference, halfway between the North and South poles. [ 1 ]
The Earth's equatorial radius a, or semi-major axis, [8]: 11 is the distance from its center to the equator and equals 6,378.1370 km (3,963.1906 mi). [9] The equatorial radius is often used to compare Earth with other planets .
Earth's circumference is the distance around Earth. Measured around the equator, it is 40,075.017 km (24,901.461 mi). Measured passing through the poles, the circumference is 40,007.863 km (24,859.734 mi). [1] Treating the Earth as a sphere, its circumference would be its single most important measurement. [2]
The fundamental plane is the plane of the Earth's equator. The primary direction (the x axis) is the March equinox. A right-handed convention specifies a y axis 90° to the east in the fundamental plane; the z axis is the north polar axis. The reference frame does not rotate with the Earth, rather, the Earth rotates around the z axis.
The difference of 0.0178 m/s 2 between the gravitational acceleration at the poles and the true gravitational acceleration at the Equator is because objects located on the Equator are about 21 km (13 mi) further away from the center of mass of the Earth than at the poles, which corresponds to a smaller gravitational acceleration.
The geostationary satellite (green) always remains above the same marked spot on the equator (brown). A geostationary equatorial orbit (GEO) is a circular geosynchronous orbit in the plane of the Earth's equator with a radius of approximately 42,164 km (26,199 mi) (measured from the center of the Earth).
The equator is the circle that is equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole. It divides the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Of the parallels or circles of latitude, it is the longest, and the only 'great circle' (a circle on the surface of the Earth, centered on Earth's center). All the other parallels are ...
Geodetic latitude measures how close to the poles or equator a point is along a meridian, and is represented as an angle from −90° to +90°, where 0° is the equator. The geodetic latitude is the angle between the equatorial plane and a line that is normal to the reference ellipsoid.