Earth
As of 2012 the most used prime meridian for the Earth is the IERS Reference Meridian (IRM). It passes about 5.3 arcseconds east of Airy's transit circle or about 102 metres (335 ft) at the latitude of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London. A current convention on the Earth uses the opposite of the IRM as the basis for the International Date Line.
Read more about this topic: Prime Meridian
Famous quotes containing the word earth:
“Not a single man on earth knows from his own experience the how and where of his birth, only from tradition, which is often very uncertain.”
—E.T.A.W. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Wilhelm)
“But now I am weary and my old heart, which thought itself turned away from all, has learned pain once again. I am no longer young enough to adjust. And anyhow, when a mother can no longer recognize her own son, her role on this earth is over.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing—instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)