equator

views updated Jun 11 2018

equator Name given to two imaginary circles. The terrestrial Equator lies midway between the North Pole and South Pole and is the zero line from which latitude is measured. It divides the Earth into the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. The celestial equator lies directly above the Earth's Equator, and is used as a reference to determine the position of a star using the astronomical co-ordinate system of right ascension and declination.

equator

views updated Jun 11 2018

e·qua·tor / iˈkwātər/ • n. an imaginary line drawn around the earth equally distant from both poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°. ∎  a corresponding line on a planet or other body.

equator

views updated May 29 2018

equator great circle of the celestial sphere XIV; great circle of the earth XVII. — (O)F. équateur or medL. æquātor, in full circulus æquator diei et noctis circle equalizing day and night. f. æquāre (see prec.).

Equator

views updated Jun 08 2018

143. Equator

See also 133. EARTH ; 178. GEOGRAPHY

antipodes
two points on the surface of the earth diametrically opposite each other. antipodean , n. , adj.
Antiscians, Antiscii
persons living on opposite sides of the equator but in the same longitude whose shadows at noon fall in opposite directions.

equator

views updated Jun 08 2018

equator a line notionally drawn on the earth equidistant from the poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°. The term is recorded from late Middle English, and comes from medieval Latin aequator, in the phrase circulus aequator diei et noctis ‘circle equalizing day and night’.

equator

views updated May 21 2018

equator See spindle.