Tropic of Capricorn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Tropic of Capricorn is also the name of a novel by Henry Miller, first published in 1939.
The Tropic of Capricorn (capricorn is Latin for goat horn), 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.
[edit] Geography
- The Tropic of Capricorn passes through the following countries, starting at the prime meridian and heading west:
- Brazil
- Paraguay
- Argentina
- Chile
- French Polynesia (France) - passing just south of Tubuai
- Tonga - passing just north of the Minerva Reefs
- Australia
- Madagascar
- Mozambique
- South Africa
- Botswana
- Namibia
[edit] History
The Tropic of Capricorn is so named because about 2,000 years ago the sun was entering the constellation Capricornus on the December solstice. In modern times the Sun appears in the constellation Sagittarius during this time. The change is due to precession of the equinoxes.
