Latitude/Longitude of the Exact Opposite Place LONGITUDE on Earth to Sydney, Australia, 33° 55‘ S, 151° 17‘ E 90° N 180° Sydney LATITUDE 151° 17’ E
GEO 101, January 16, 2014, Latitude and Longitude Finding your way … How geographers locate where things are… Most common locational system Best reference points are ends of rotational axis Latitude and Longitude Measures angular distance in degrees, not distance in miles or km Basic geometry: circle has 360 degrees Babylonians (≈600 BC) chose the number 360. The reason is that their number system was based on 60. To compare, we base our number system on 10. For us, 10 is a nice, round number and we find it very convenient to count in multiples of 10. But the Babylonians liked 60. LATITUDE Midway between N & S pole is Equator = 0° 90° N 0° 90° S 1 Latitude of Mobile ≈ 30° 42’ N. Parallels of latitude measure the angular distance (degrees) north or south of the Equator. Expressed in degrees, minutes, & seconds 60 minutes in 1 degree 60 seconds in 1 minute The lines themselves run east - west like the rungs on a ladder Find distance in miles between Latitude can be used to approximate Mobile and the Galapagos Islands, distances based on following: which is almost due south of Mobile 360° in a circle Galapagos 0° 10’ S Mobile 30° 42’ N ≈ 25,000 miles around earth 25,000 miles / 360° ≈ 69 miles in 1° Difference 30° 52’ or 30 + 52/60 degrees = 30.87° One degree of latitude always ≈ 69 miles This is true because parallels of latitude 30.87° x 69 mi/degree = 2130 miles stay same distance apart LONGITUDE Arbitrary starting place at Greenwich (London), England 180° = International Date Line East West N P 0° = Prime Meridian 2 One degree of longitude ONLY EQUALS 69 Meridians of longitude measure the miles, at the Equator.
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