Planet Earth

How do scientists refer to different areas of the Earth?

Did you know that scientists base the location of places in the world, as well as navigation systems, on invisible lines and places? That's right.

These lines, such as the equator and the prime meridian, can't actually be seen. They are imaginary. But even so, scientists use their exact location to determine all other locations on Earth.

The equator is the imaginary latitude line that runs across the Earth, and the prime meridian is the imaginary longitude line that runs up and down the Earth.

The equator divides the world in half horizontally at 0 degrees to form the northern and southern hemispheres. But you can't see the hemispheres, because they are imaginary. However, if you know where a place is in relation to the equator, you know if that place is in the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere.

The prime meridian cuts the world in half vertically at 0 degrees to form the eastern and western hemispheres. Again, you can't actually see the hemispheres. They are imaginary.

The North and South Poles are located at the top and bottom of the world. The North Pole is in the northern hemisphere, and the South Pole is in the southern hemisphere.

globe labeled with north and south poles, equator, and northern/southern hemispheres.

In this lesson, you will learn more about how scientists use all of these imaginary, but very important, lines and places.