What is The Tropic of Capricorn?
A new four-part series for BBC Two, Tropic of Capricorn, charts a 20,000 mile-journey around the world. But what is Capricorn? Series Producer Sam Bagnall explains. Prog 1: Namibia and Botswana Sunday 10 February, 2008 2000 GMT on BBC Two In pictures From distant memories of geography lessons at school, most people are vaguely aware that the Tropic of Capricorn is one of two lines around the earth, quite near the Equator. For the record, Capricorn is the southern one, whereas the Tropic of Cancer lies to the north. Capricorn cuts through South America, Southern Africa and Australia, as well as thousands of miles of empty ocean. But what is it? The answer to that question is not as straightforward as you might think. When our team filmed their journey around the Equator in 2006, it was relatively simple – zero degrees latitude, the centre of the world, the border between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern. Shifting location Capricorn is a little more tricky. The best and pithiest
The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It lies 23° 26′ 22″ south of the Equator, and marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon. This event occurs at the December solstice, when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun to its maximum extent. The northern hemisphere equivalent of the Tropic of Capricorn is the Tropic of Cancer. Schoolchildren are sometimes taught to remember which tropic is which by the fact that Cancer has the letter N, for North, in the middle of it. Alternatively: corns grow on the feet (i.e. the lower part of the body, corresponding to the southern hemisphere). Latitudes south of the Tropic of Capricorn are in the Southern Temperate Zone. The region north of the Tropic of Capricorn and south of the Tropic of Cancer is known as the Tropics.
