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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).
Earth's circumference is the distance around Earth. Measured around the equator, it is 40,075.017 km (24,901.461 mi). Measured passing through the poles, the circumference is 40,007.863 km (24,859.734 mi). [1] Treating the Earth as a sphere, its circumference would be its single most important measurement. [2]
As theorized by Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens, [3]: 4 the Earth is flattened at the poles and bulged at the equator. Thus, geodesy represents the figure of the Earth as an oblate spheroid . The oblate spheroid, or oblate ellipsoid , is an ellipsoid of revolution obtained by rotating an ellipse about its shorter axis.
The planet Earth has a rather slight equatorial bulge; its equatorial diameter is about 43 km (27 mi) greater than its polar diameter, with a difference of about 1 ⁄ 298 of the equatorial diameter. If Earth were scaled down to a globe with an equatorial diameter of 1 metre (3.3 ft), that difference would be only 3 mm (0.12 in).
An Earth ellipsoid or Earth spheroid ... f is the amount of flattening at each pole, ... with f between 1/3 and 1/2 (meaning that the polar diameter is between 50 ...
The poles of the dipole are located close to Earth's geographic poles. ... which is fast enough to travel a distance equal to Earth's diameter, about 12,742 km (7,918 ...
British explorer Sir James Clark Ross discovered the magnetic north pole in 1831 in northern Canada, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) south of the true North Pole.
Earth bulges slightly at the equator; its average diameter is 12,742 km (7,918 mi), but the diameter at the equator is about 43 km (27 mi) greater than at the poles. [ 1 ] Sites near the equator, such as the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou , French Guiana, are good locations for spaceports as they have the fastest rotational speed of any latitude ...