Tropic of Capricorn
Encyclopedia : T : TR : TRO : Tropic of Capricorn
- Tropic of Capricorn is also the name of a novel by Henry Miller, first published in 1939.
The Tropic of Capricorn or Southern tropic is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude at 23° 26' 22" south of the Equator, and is the farthest southern latitude that the sun can appear directly overhead, occurring on the December solstice. Its northern hemisphere equivalent is the Tropic of Cancer. Latitudes south of the Tropic of Capricorn are in the Southern Temperate Zone. North of this line are the Tropics.
See also
The exact location and size of the Tropic of Capricorn follow the same calculations as given for its counter part: Tropic of CancerGeography
- The Tropic of Capricorn passes through the following countries (going west):
- Brazil
- Paraguay
- Argentina
- Chile
- French Polynesia
- Tonga (Minerva Reefs)
- Australia
- Madagascar
- Mozambique
- South Africa
- Botswana
- Namibia
History
It is called the Tropic of Capricorn because when it was named about 2000 years ago, the sun was entering the constellation Capricornus on the December solstice. Now, the sun appears in the constellation Sagittarius during this time. The change is due to precession of the equinoxes.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.