Latitude

Latitude is the angular distance of a location north or south of the equator, measured in degrees. It ranges from 0° at the equator to 90° at either pole.

Equator: The great circle around Earth equidistant from the North and South Poles, assigned 0° latitude. It is the reference line from which north and south latitude are measured.
Longitude: The angular position of a location east or west of the prime meridian. Together, latitude and longitude locate positions on Earth.
Angle: A measure of the amount of rotation between two intersecting lines or rays. Latitude is an angle measured relative to the equatorial plane.
Rhumb line: A path across Earth that crosses every meridian at the same angle. On a Mercator chart, a rhumb line appears straight, unlike most shortest routes.
Parallels of latitude: Circles on Earth’s surface parallel to the equator that connect points of equal latitude. Each parallel traces the locations sharing a particular latitude.
Tropic of Cancer: The northernmost parallel at which the Sun can appear directly overhead at noon. Its position marks a key boundary in latitude-based solar patterns.
Degree (angle): A unit of angle equal to one three-hundred-sixtieth of a full rotation. Latitude is commonly expressed in degrees, often subdivided into minutes and seconds.
Great-circle navigation: Navigation along a great circle, the shortest path between two points on a sphere. Latitude alone does not determine the shortest route between places.
Geographic coordinate system: A system for locating places on Earth using angular coordinates such as latitude and longitude. Latitude works with longitude to specify positions on Earth.
Tropic of Capricorn: The southernmost parallel at which the Sun can appear directly overhead at noon. It marks the corresponding solar boundary in the Southern Hemisphere.

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