Description: Earth is a sphere. To define locations on Earth two sets of imaginary lines are drawn onto the surface of the sphere: Lines of latitude are circles which run around Earth parallel to the equator. The equator has a latitude of 0 degrees. Latitudes in the northern hemisphere are positive; latitudes in the southern hemisphere are negative. The North and South Poles have the highest/lowest latitudes. The North Pole is at +90 degrees and the South Pole at -90 degrees. There are also lines running in great circles through the poles. These are lines of longitude.

Related Terms:

• Equator
• Longitude
• Polar Circle
• Tropic
• North Pole
• South Pole

Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".