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A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. [2] [3] [4] Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( 1 / 60 of a degree) of latitude at the equator, so that Earth's polar circumference is very near to 21,600 nautical miles (that is 60 minutes × 360 degrees).
As one degree is 1 / 360 of a circle, one minute of arc is 1 / 21600 of a circle – such that the polar circumference of the Earth would be exactly 21,600 miles. Gunter used Snellius's circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude. [24]
Earth radius (denoted as R 🜨 or R E) is the distance from the center of Earth to a point on or near its surface. Approximating the figure of Earth by an Earth spheroid (an oblate ellipsoid), the radius ranges from a maximum (equatorial radius, denoted a) of nearly 6,378 km (3,963 mi) to a minimum (polar radius, denoted b) of nearly 6,357 km (3,950 mi).
an object of diameter 45 866 916 km at one light-year, an object of diameter one astronomical unit (149 597 870.7 km) at a distance of one parsec, per the definition of the latter. [7] One milliarcsecond is about the size of a half dollar, seen from a distance equal to that between the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower.
With this value for R the meridian length of 1 degree of latitude on the sphere is 111.2 km (69.1 statute miles) (60.0 nautical miles). The length of one minute of latitude is 1.853 km (1.151 statute miles) (1.00 nautical miles), while the length of 1 second of latitude is 30.8 m or 101 feet (see nautical mile).
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology notes that "The international nautical mile of 1,852 meters (6,076.115 49... feet) was adopted effective July 1, 1954, for use in the United States. The value formerly used in the United States was 6,080.20 feet = 1 nautical (geographical or sea) mile."
At Earth's polar regions, the ocean surface is covered by seasonally variable amounts of sea ice that often connects with polar land, permafrost and ice sheets, forming polar ice caps. Earth's land covers 29.2%, or 149 million km 2 (58 million sq mi) of Earth's surface.
Nautical mile: Length: Rhumb: Angle: The angle between two successive points of the thirty-two point compass (11 degrees 15 minutes) (rare) [1] Shackle: Length: Before 1949, 12.5 fathoms; later 15 fathoms. [2] Toise: Length: Toise was also used for measures of area and volume Twenty-foot equivalent unit or TEU: Volume: Used in connection with ...