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Guinea, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Guinea, Gulf of gĭnˈē [key], large open arm of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the great bend of the coast of W Africa. It extends from the western coast of Côte d'Ivoire to the Gabon estuary and is ...

Iapetus, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Iapetus īăpˈĭtəs [key], in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn VIII (or S8), Iapetus is 907 mi (1460 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a mean...

doldrums

(Encyclopedia)doldrums dŏlˈdrəmz [key] or equatorial belt of calms, area around the earth centered slightly north of the equator between the two belts of trade winds. The large amount of solar radiation that arr...

meter, unit of measure

(Encyclopedia)meter, abbr. m, fundamental unit of length in the metric system. The meter was originally defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the equator and either pole; however, the original survey was ...

Kenya, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Kenya, Mount, or Mount Kirinyaga, extinct volcano, central Kenya, just south of the equator. Its highest peak, Batian, reaches 17,058 ft (5,199 m), making Mt. Kenya the highest mountain in Africa afte...

hour angle

(Encyclopedia)hour angle, in astronomy, a coordinate in the equatorial coordinate system. The hour angle of a celestial body is the angular distance, expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds (one hour equals 15 deg...

snow line

(Encyclopedia)snow line, altitude above which or latitude beyond which snow does not melt in summer (usually called the permanent snow line), or, in winter, the line to which snow extends at a given point in time. ...

circumpolar star

(Encyclopedia)circumpolar star, star whose diurnal circle lies completely above or completely below an observer's horizon. A star whose diurnal circle lies above the horizon never sets, even though it cannot be see...

Tropic of Cancer

(Encyclopedia)Tropic of Cancer, parallel of latitude at 23°30′ 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...

seasons

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The seasons are caused by the tilt of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit about the sun. The Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun in the summer and receives more direct rays than...