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Glossary term: Nadir

Description: The nadir is defined as the point directly below the observer. It is relative to the position of the observer as the nadir for a person in London would be different from that of a person in Beijing or Cape Town. Measured in angles it is 90 degrees from the horizon. The opposite of the nadir is called the zenith.

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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".