Questions on latitudes and stuff

eMinity · Post by **eMinity** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:52 pm

can anyone explain to me what does altitude, latitude and magnitude actually mean? cause i cant really understand the meaning in wiki. and whats the latitude of singapore. and those 42degree north and stuff? >.< thanks

Zephyrus · Post by **Zephyrus** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:35 am

Altitude: http://www.answers.com/topic/altitude
Latitude: http://www.answers.com/Latitude
Magnitude: http://www.answers.com/Magnitude

Google and online dictionaries are my best friends.

eMinity · Post by **eMinity** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:54 am

still dont really get latitude and magnitude

Zephyrus · Post by **Zephyrus** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:13 pm

Well, for latitude.. I don't really know how to explain. But I've found an article which explains it more clearly. If you still don't understand after reading it, you probably won't get it anyway.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/questi ... number=113

As for magnitude (for Astronomy) in layman's term.. it is simply a "measurement" of how bright a celestial object is. The lower the magnitude, the brighter it is.

Post by **weixing** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:31 pm

Hi,

still dont really get latitude and magnitude

You draw graph before?? To find any point on the graph, you need X and Y. Longitude is like X and latitude is like Y coordinate with equator as 0... Go up (North) is +ve and down (South) is -ve. Now imagine your graph paper is fold to a ball shape. The equator will be the at the middle of the ball horizontally... which is 0 degree latitude. Go up (North) from equator (0 degree), you get positive value, such as 10 degree North (+10), 20 degree North (+20) to 90 degree North (+90)... which is the North pole. Go down (South) from equator (0 degree), you get negative value, such as 10 degree South (-10), 20 degree South (-20) to 90 degree South (-90)... which is the South pole.

Magnitude is the measurement of brightness in Astronomy... the larger the value, the dimmer it is. So magnitude 0 is brighter than magnitude 1 and magnitude -1 is brighter than magnitude 0.

Have a nice day.