Astrological Terminologies

Equator

To understand what is equator, we should first understand the latitudes and longitudes of earth. The earth is spherical like an orange. It is flat from both the ends. These two ends of the earth are known as poles. The northern end of earth is known as North Pole and the southern end is known as South Pole. The imaginary line joining both the poles is known the axis. The imaginary line present in between both the poles which is equidistant from both the poles and joins the east and western direction is known as equator. The distance of equator from the North Pole and South Pole is equal.

Latitude

The imaginary equidistant lines drawn from equator towards north and south on the surface of earth are known as latitudes. These lines express the distance of northern and southern direction of a place from equator. A latitude is determined by the axis. It is calculated with respect to the angular inclination of axis of the earth with a particular place. In simple words, the angular distance of a particular place in north or south from equator is known as latitude.

Longitude

It is also known as Meridian. It is used to determine the distance of a place in east or in west from Prime Meridian. The equidistant lines drawn from Prime Meridian towards east or west to determine the distance from eastern or western direction are known as longitudes. One end of these lines is called North pole and the other end is known as South pole. These lines cross equator while going towards North or South. These lines are also imaginary lines.

Prime Meridian

The difference towards east or west is calculated with this line. Earlier, this calculation was done from Ujjain. Longitude was calculated by the line which crossed Ujjain while going towards North or towards South. But, now longitude is calculated with respect to a place in England called Greenwich which is considered to be the Prime Meridian.