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Longitude (/ ˈ l ɒ n dʒ ɪ tj uː d /, AU and UK also / ˈ l ɒ ŋ ɡ ɪ-/) [1] [2] is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter lambda (λ).
The longitude at this line can be given as either east or west. On Earth, the prime and 180th meridians form a great circle that divides the planet into the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. The antimeridian passes mostly through the open waters of the Pacific Ocean but also runs across land in Russia, Fiji, and Antarctica.
Longitude measures the rotational angle between the zero meridian and the measured point. By convention for the Earth, Moon and Sun, it is expressed in degrees ranging from −180° to +180°. For other bodies a range of 0° to 360° is used. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify a zero meridian, which for Earth is usually the Prime ...
The longitude λ of a point on Earth's surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses (often called great circles), which converge at the North and South Poles.
The position of a point along the meridian at a given longitude is given by its latitude, measured in angular degrees north or south of the Equator. On a Mercator projection or on a Gall-Peters projection, each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude. Assuming a spherical Earth, a meridian is a great semicircle on Earth's
Due to the movement of Earth's tectonic plates, the line of 0° longitude along the surface of the Earth has slowly moved toward the west from this shifted position by a few centimetres (inches); that is, towards the Airy Transit Circle (or the Airy Transit Circle has moved toward the east, depending on your point of view) since 1984 (or the ...
The point on the Earth's surface defined as Null Island is located in international waters in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 600 kilometres (370 mi) off the coast of West Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea. [2] A weather buoy, named the Soul buoy after the soul music genre, was moored at the location. [3]
The graticule shows the latitude and longitude of points on the surface. In this example meridians are spaced at 6° intervals and parallels at 4° intervals. In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north–south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body.