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The longitude gives the position east or west of the Moon's prime meridian, which is the line passing from the lunar north pole through the point on the lunar surface directly facing Earth to the lunar south pole. (See also Earth's prime meridian.) This can be thought of as the midpoint of the visible Moon as seen from the Earth.
The lunar south pole is located on the center of the polar Antarctic Circle (80°S to 90°S). [2] [4] (The axis spin is 88.5 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic.) The lunar south pole has shifted 5.5 degrees from its original position billions of years ago. [5]
The poles are located at ±90° from the fundamental plane. The primary direction is the starting point of the longitudinal coordinates. The origin is the zero distance point, the "center of the celestial sphere", although the definition of celestial sphere is ambiguous about the definition of its center point.
Historically, times used for calculating longitude have included apparent solar time, local mean time, and ephemeris time, with mean time being the one most used for navigation of the sea. See also the equation of time for details on the differences. Lunar distances and moon culminations. In its orbit around the Earth, the Moon moves relative ...
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines the north pole of a planet or any of its satellites in the Solar System as the planetary pole that is in the same celestial hemisphere, relative to the invariable plane of the Solar System, as Earth's north pole. [1] This definition is independent of the object's direction of rotation about its ...
The north pole is in the center. The lunar north pole is the point in the Northern Hemisphere of the Moon where the lunar axis of rotation meets its surface. The lunar North Pole is the northernmost point on the Moon, lying diametrically opposite the lunar south pole. It defines latitude 90° North.
The magnetic North Pole is sometimes confused with the geographic North Pole, but this spot stays at the same place as it is where all lines of longitude converge.
Chart of lunar maria with lines of longitude and latitude. The prime meridian is the centre of the near side of the Moon.. A planetary coordinate system (also referred to as planetographic, planetodetic, or planetocentric) [1] [2] is a generalization of the geographic, geodetic, and the geocentric coordinate systems for planets other than Earth.