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tropic of Cancer
American Heritage Dictionary:
tropic of Cancer
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
n.
The parallel of latitude 23¡ã27¡ä north of the equator, the northern boundary of the Torrid Zone, and the most northerly latitude at which the sun can shine directly overhead.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
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Parallel of latitude approximately 23¡ã27? north of the terrestrial Equator. It is the northern boundary of the tropics and marks the northernmost latitude at which the Sun can be seen directly overhead at noon.
For more information on Tropic of Cancer, visit Britannica.com.
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Encyclopedia:
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The parallel of latitude about 23?¡ã (23.45¡ã) north of the Equator. The importance of this line lies in the fact that its degree of angle from the Equator is the same as the inclination of the Earth's axis from the vertical to the plane of the ecliptic. Because of this inclination of the axis and the revolution of the Earth in its orbit, the vertical overhead rays of the Sun may progress as far north as 23?¡ã. At no place north of the Tropic of Cancer will the Sun, at noon, be 90¡ã overhead.
On June 21, the summer solstice (Northern Hemisphere), the Sun is vertical above the Tropic of Cancer. On this same day the Sun is 47¡ã above the horizon at noon at the Arctic Circle, and at the Tropic of Capricorn, only 43¡ã above the horizon. The Tropic of Cancer is the northern boundary of the equatorial zone called the tropics, which lies between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. See also Latitude and longitude; Mathematical geography; Solstice.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
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Tropic of Cancer, parallel of latitude at 23¡ã30¡ä north of the equator; it is the northern boundary of the tropics. This parallel marks the farthest point north at which the sun can be seen directly overhead at noon; north of the parallel the sun appears less than 90¡ã from the southern horizon at any day of the year. The sun reaches its vertical position over the Tropic of Cancer at about June 22, the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. When the Tropic of Cancer was named, the sun was in the constellation Cancer at the time of the summer solstice.
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Geography:
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Imaginary line that circles the Earth about one-quarter of the way from the equator to the North Pole. The sun is directly overhead at the June solstice.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Aviation:
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The northern parallel of declination, approximately 23¡ã27¡¯ from the celestial equator, reached by the sun at its maximum declination, or the corresponding parallel on the earth. It is named for the sign of the zodiac during which the sun reached its maximum northerly declination.
Random House Word Menu:
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Maps and Cartography - tropic of Cancer: parallel at 23 12 degrees north
Forecasting and Meteorology - tropic of Cancer: latitude 23 12 degrees north of equator
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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For the novel by Henry Miller, see Tropic of Cancer (novel). For the BBC TV series, see Tropic of Cancer (BBC TV series).
Coordinates: 23¡ã26¡ä16¡åN 0¡ã0¡ä0¡åW? / ?23.43778¡ãN 0¡ãE? / 23.43778; 0? (Prime Meridian)
World map showing the Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer, also referred to as the Northern tropic, is the circle of latitude on the Earth that marks the most northerly position at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its zenith. This event occurs once per year, at the time of the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun to its maximum extent.
Its Southern Hemisphere counterpart, marking the most southerly position at which the Sun may appear directly overhead, is the Tropic of Capricorn. These tropics are two of the five major degree measures or major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth, besides the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and the Equator. The positions of these circles of latitude (other than the Equator) are dictated by the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation relative to the plane of its orbit.
Contents
1 Name
2 Geography
3 Climate
4 Circumnavigation
5 External links
6 See also
7 Notes
Name
Road sign South of Dakhla, Western Sahara (claimed by Morocco) marking the Tropic of Cancer. The sign was placed by the Budapest-Bamako rally participants, thus the non-English inscription is in Hungarian.
Tropic of cancer passes through National Highway 34 in Nadia District, West Bengal, India
The imaginary line is called the Tropic of Cancer because when it was named, the Sun was in the direction of the constellation Cancer (Latin for crab) at the June solstice. However, this is no longer true due to the precession of the equinoxes. According to International Astronomical Union boundaries, the Sun now is in Taurus at the June solstice. According to sidereal astrology, which divides the zodiac into 12 equal parts, the Sun is in Gemini at that time. The word "tropic" itself comes from the Greek ¦Ó¦Ñ¦Ï¦Ð? (tropi), meaning turn, referring to the fact that the Sun appears to "turn back" at the solstices.
Geography
Carretera 83 (V¨ªa Corta) Zaragoza-Victoria, Km 27+800. In all crossings of the Tropic of Cancer with Mexican federal highways, this is the only place where the latitude is marked with absolute precision and where the annual drift between 2005 and 2010 can be appreciated.
The Tropic of Cancer currently (Epoch 2011) lies 23¡ã 26¡ä 16¡å north of the Equator.[1] Its position is not fixed, but varies in a complicated manner over time. It is presently drifting south at the rate of almost half a second (0.47¡å) of latitude per year (it was at exactly 23? 27' in year 1917).[2] See circles of latitude for further information.
North of Tropic of Cancer are the subtropics and the North Temperate Zone. The equivalent line of latitude south of the Equator is called the Tropic of Capricorn, and the region between the two, centered on the Equator, is the tropics.
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Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the Tropic of Cancer passes through:
Co-ordinates
Country, territory or sea
Notes
23¡ã26¡äN 0¡ã0¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 0¡ãE? / 23.433; 0? (Prime Meridian)
Algeria
23¡ã26¡äN 11¡ã51¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 11.85¡ãE? / 23.433; 11.85? (Niger)
Niger
23¡ã26¡äN 12¡ã17¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 12.283¡ãE? / 23.433; 12.283? (Libya)
Libya
The Tropic touches on the northernmost point of Chad at 23¡ã26¡äN 15¡ã59¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 15.983¡ãE? / 23.433; 15.983? (Northernmost point of Chad)
23¡ã26¡äN 25¡ã0¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 25¡ãE? / 23.433; 25? (Egypt)
Egypt
23¡ã26¡äN 35¡ã30¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 35.5¡ãE? / 23.433; 35.5? (Red Sea)
Red Sea
23¡ã26¡äN 38¡ã38¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 38.633¡ãE? / 23.433; 38.633? (Saudi Arabia)
Saudi Arabia
23¡ã26¡äN 52¡ã8¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 52.133¡ãE? / 23.433; 52.133? (United Arab Emirates)
United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi emirate only
23¡ã26¡äN 55¡ã24¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 55.4¡ãE? / 23.433; 55.4? (Oman)
Oman
23¡ã26¡äN 58¡ã46¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 58.767¡ãE? / 23.433; 58.767? (Indian Ocean)
Indian Ocean
Arabian Sea
23¡ã26¡äN 68¡ã23¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 68.383¡ãE? / 23.433; 68.383? (India)
India
States of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal
23¡ã26¡äN 88¡ã47¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 88.783¡ãE? / 23.433; 88.783? (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh
Khulna, Dhaka, and Chittagong Divisions
23¡ã26¡äN 91¡ã14¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 91.233¡ãE? / 23.433; 91.233? (India)
India
State of Tripura
23¡ã26¡äN 91¡ã56¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 91.933¡ãE? / 23.433; 91.933? (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh
Chittagong Division
23¡ã26¡äN 92¡ã19¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 92.317¡ãE? / 23.433; 92.317? (India)
India
State of Mizoram
23¡ã26¡äN 93¡ã23¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 93.383¡ãE? / 23.433; 93.383? (Myanmar)
Myanmar (Burma)
Chin State, Sagaing Division, Mandalay Division, Shan State
23¡ã26¡äN 98¡ã54¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 98.9¡ãE? / 23.433; 98.9? (China)
China
Provinces of Yunnan (passing about 7km north of the border with Vietnam), Guangxi, and Guangdong
23¡ã26¡äN 117¡ã8¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 117.133¡ãE? / 23.433; 117.133? (Taiwan Strait)
Taiwan Strait
23¡ã26¡äN 120¡ã8¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 120.133¡ãE? / 23.433; 120.133? (Taiwan)
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Chiayi County, Hualien County
23¡ã26¡äN 121¡ã29¡äE? / ?23.433¡ãN 121.483¡ãE? / 23.433; 121.483? (Pacific Ocean)
Pacific Ocean
Passing just south of Necker Island, Hawaii, United States
23¡ã26¡äN 110¡ã15¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 110.25¡ãW? / 23.433; -110.25? (Mexico)
Mexico
State of Baja California Sur
23¡ã26¡äN 109¡ã24¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 109.4¡ãW? / 23.433; -109.4? (Gulf of California)
Gulf of California
23¡ã26¡äN 106¡ã35¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 106.583¡ãW? / 23.433; -106.583? (Mexico)
Mexico
States of Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potos¨ª, Nuevo Le¨®n, and Tamaulipas
23¡ã26¡äN 97¡ã45¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 97.75¡ãW? / 23.433; -97.75? (Gulf of Mexico)
Gulf of Mexico
23¡ã26¡äN 83¡ã0¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 83¡ãW? / 23.433; -83? (Atlantic Ocean)
Atlantic Ocean
Passing through the Straits of Florida and the Nicholas Channel
Passing just south of the Anguilla Cays ( Bahamas)
Passing through the Santaren Channel and into the open ocean
23¡ã26¡äN 76¡ã0¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 76¡ãW? / 23.433; -76? (Bahamas)
Bahamas
Exuma Islands and Long Island
23¡ã26¡äN 75¡ã10¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 75.167¡ãW? / 23.433; -75.167? (Atlantic Ocean)
Atlantic Ocean
23¡ã26¡äN 15¡ã57¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 15.95¡ãW? / 23.433; -15.95? (Western Sahara)
Western Sahara
Claimed by Morocco
23¡ã26¡äN 12¡ã0¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 12¡ãW? / 23.433; -12? (Mauritania)
Mauritania
23¡ã26¡äN 6¡ã23¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 6.383¡ãW? / 23.433; -6.383? (Mali)
Mali
23¡ã26¡äN 2¡ã23¡äW? / ?23.433¡ãN 2.383¡ãW? / 23.433; -2.383? (Algeria)
Algeria
Climate
Excluding cooler highland regions in Mexico and China, the climate at the Tropic of Cancer is generally hot and dry except for easterly coastal areas where orographic rainfall can be very heavy, in some places reaching 4 metres (160 in). Most regions on the Tropic of Cancer experience two distinct season: an extremely hot summer with temperatures often reaching 45 ¡ãC (113 ¡ãF) and a warm winter with maxima around 22 ¡ãC (72 ¡ãF). Most land on or near the Tropic of Cancer is part of the Sahara Desert, whilst to the east the climate is torrid monsoonal with a short wet season from June to September and very little rainfall for the rest of the year.
The highest mountain on or adjacent to the Tropic of Cancer is Yushan in Taiwan; though it had glaciers descending as low as 2,800 metres (9,190 ft) during the Last Glacial Maximum, none survive and at present no glaciers exist within 350 kilometres (220 mi); the nearest currently surviving are in the Himalayas to the north and Iztacc¨ªhuatl to the south.
Circumnavigation
According to the F¨¦d¨¦ration A¨¦ronautique Internationale's rules, for a flight to compete for a round-the-world speed record, it must cover a distance no less than the length of the Tropic of Cancer, as well as cross all of the meridians, and end on the same airfield where it started.
To calculate the length of the Tropic:
At present (2011) the radius of the circle will be 6 378 x cos(23? 26¡ä 16¡å) which results in 5 851.77 km
Then, = 3.1416 x 2 x 5851.77 which amounts to 36 767.8413
Therefore, assuming the Earth to be a perfect sphere, the length of the circumference at the parallel of the Tropics would be 36 768 km
For an ordinary circumnavigation the rules are somewhat relaxed and the distance is set to a rounded value of at least 37,000 kilometers.
External links
Look up tropic of cancer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Article on the Tropic of Cancer in Oman
Temporal Epoch Calculations
Useful constants" See: Obliquity of the ecliptic
See also
23rd parallel north
24th parallel north
Tropic of Capricorn
Antarctic Circle
Arctic Circle
Axial tilt
Equator
Milankovitch cycles
Ducking and shaving
Notes
^ Tr¨®pico en movimiento (in Spanish)
^ Montana State University: Milankovitch Cycles & Glaciation
v ¡¤ d ¡¤ eCircles of latitude / Meridians
Equator
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Capricorn
Arctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
Equator
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Capricorn
Arctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
Equator
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Capricorn
Arctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
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Translations:
Tropic of Cancer Top
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - Tropic of Cancer
Deutsch (German)
n. - Wendekreis des Krebses
????? (Hebrew)
n. - ???? ??????
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Related topics:
north temperate zone (climatology)
Torrid Zone (latitude zone of the earth)
Miller, Henry Valentine (American writer)
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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright ? 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. ? 1994-2011 Encyclop?dia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright ? 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright ? 2011, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Geography. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright ? 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more
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Mentioned in
north temperate zone (climatology)
Torrid Zone (latitude zone of the earth)
Miller, Henry Valentine (American writer)
Temperate Zone (intermediate latitude zones of the earth)
Neotropics (biogeographic region of the New World)
subtropical
Tropic of Cancer (1970 Drama Film)
Tropic of Capricorn (physical geography, geomorphology)
Henry Miller Odyssey (1974 Film)
Tropic (1979 TV Series)
solstice
Cancer (in astronomy)
tropics
Ginette Leclerc (Actor, Drama/Comedy)
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