North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions . It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west . North is a noun , adjective , or adverb indicating direction or geography .
25-665: Do you want: NSMC - North/South Ministerial Council , A body established under the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement) to co-ordinate activity and exercise certain limited governmental powers across the island of Ireland NSMC - North Shore Medical Center , former name of Salem Hospital, a hospital complex in Salem , Massachusetts . NSMC - National Student Marketing Corporation ,
50-461: A bearing or azimuth of 0° or 360°. Traveling directly north traces a meridian line upwards. North is specifically the direction that, in Western culture , is considered the fundamental direction: Magnetic north is of interest because it is the direction indicated as north on a properly functioning (but uncorrected) magnetic compass . The difference between it and true north is called
75-519: A millennium . This wobble means that the Tropic of Cancer is currently drifting southward at a rate of almost half an arcsecond (0.468″) of latitude, or 15 m (49 ft), per year. The circle's position was at exactly 23° 27′N in 1917 and will be at 23° 26'N in 2045. The distance between the Antarctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer is essentially constant as they move in tandem. This
100-516: A right angle from the prime direction, that are closest to the rising and setting, respectively, of the sun (or moon). Being the "default" direction on the compass, north is referred to frequently in Western popular culture. Some examples include: Tropic of Cancer 23°26′12.5″N 0°0′0″W / 23.436806°N -0.00000°E / 23.436806; -0.00000 ( Prime Meridian ) The Tropic of Cancer , also known as
125-598: Is related to the Old High German nord , both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit * ner- , meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. The Latin word borealis comes from the Greek boreas "north wind, north", which, according to Ovid , was personified as the wind-god Boreas ,
150-582: Is based on an assumption of a constant equator, but the precise location of the equator is not truly fixed. See: equator , axial tilt and circles of latitude for additional details. Download coordinates as: North of the tropic are the subtropics and the North Temperate Zone . The equivalent line of latitude south of the Equator is called the Tropic of Capricorn , and the region between
175-802: Is quite often associated with colder climates because most of the world's populated land at high latitudes is located in the Northern Hemisphere . The Arctic Circle passes through the Arctic Ocean , Norway , Sweden , Finland , Russia , the United States ( Alaska ), Canada ( Yukon , Northwest Territories and Nunavut ), Denmark ( Greenland ) and Iceland . While the choice of north over south as prime direction reflects quite arbitrary historical factors, east and west are not nearly as natural alternatives as first glance might suggest. Their folk definitions are, respectively, "where
200-628: The Equator . Its Southern Hemisphere counterpart, marking the most southerly position at which the Sun can be seen directly overhead, is the Tropic of Capricorn . These tropics are two of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth, the others being the Arctic and Antarctic circles and the Equator . The positions of these two circles of latitude (relative to the Equator) are dictated by
225-717: The Northern Tropic , is the Earth 's northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead . This occurs on the June solstice , when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun to its maximum extent. It also reaches 90 degrees below the horizon at solar midnight on the December Solstice . Using a continuously updated formula, the circle is currently 23°26′09.8″ (or 23.43605°) north of
250-568: The magnetic declination (or simply the declination where the context is clear). For many purposes and physical circumstances, the error in direction that results from ignoring the distinction is tolerable; in others a mental or instrument compensation, based on assumed knowledge of the applicable declination, can solve all the problems. But simple generalizations on the subject should be treated as unsound, and as likely to reflect popular misconceptions about terrestrial magnetism . Maps intended for usage in orienteering by compass will clearly indicate
275-463: The Tropic of Cancer experience two distinct seasons: an extremely hot summer with temperatures often reaching 45 °C (113 °F) and a warm winter with maxima around 22 °C (72 °F). Much land on or near the Tropic of Cancer is part of the Sahara Desert , while to the east, the climate is torrid monsoonal with a short wet season from June to September, and very little rainfall for
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#1732783511901300-500: The fact that the Sun appears to "turn back" at the solstices. The Tropic of Cancer's position is not fixed, but constantly changes because of a slight wobble in the Earth's longitudinal alignment relative to the ecliptic , the plane in which the Earth orbits around the Sun. Earth's axial tilt varies over a 41,000-year period from about 22.1 to 24.5 degrees, and as of 2000 is about 23.4 degrees, which will continue to remain valid for about
325-741: The father of Calais and Zetes . Septentrionalis is from septentriones , "the seven plow oxen", a name of Ursa Major . The Greek ἀρκτικός ( arktikós ) is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word Arctic . Other languages have other derivations. For example, in Lezgian , kefer can mean both "disbelief" and "north", since to the north of the Muslim Lezgian homeland there are areas formerly inhabited by non-Muslim Caucasian and Turkic peoples. In many languages of Mesoamerica , north also means "up". In Romanian
350-483: The following 17 countries (including two disputed territories) and 8 water bodies, starting at the prime meridian and heading eastward: The climate at the Tropic of Cancer is generally hot and dry, except for cooler highland regions in China, marine environments such as Hawaii, and easterly coastal areas, where orographic rainfall can be very heavy, in some places reaching 4 metres (160 in) annually. Most regions on
375-405: The local declination for easy correction to true north. Maps may also indicate grid north , which is a navigational term referring to the direction northwards along the grid lines of a map projection . The visible rotation of the night sky around the visible celestial pole provides a vivid metaphor of that direction corresponding to "up". Thus the choice of the north as corresponding to "up" in
400-566: The name of a high-flying stock in the mid-1960s. Later was investigated for fraud. NSMC - Nawaz Sharif Medical College , a medical school situated in Gujrat , Pakistan . NSMC - National Student Media Conference , a conference in Newcastle, New South Wales Australia . It is part of the larger This Is Not Art (TINA) Festival. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
425-547: The northern hemisphere, or of south in that role in the southern, is, before worldwide communication, anything but an arbitrary one - at least for night-time astronomers. (Note: the southern hemisphere lacks a prominent visible analog to the northern Pole Star .) On the contrary, Chinese and Islamic cultures considered south as the proper "top" end for maps . In the cultures of Polynesia , where navigation played an important role, winds - prevailing local or ancestral - can define cardinal points . In Western culture : North
450-545: The old word for north is mĭazănoapte , from Latin mediam noctem meaning midnight and in Hungarian is észak , which is derived from éjszaka ("night"), since between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle the Sun never shines from the north. North is sometimes abbreviated as N . By convention , the top or upward-facing side of a map is north. To go north using a compass for navigation , set
475-705: The rest of the year. The highest mountain on or adjacent to the Tropic of Cancer is Yu Shan in Taiwan . It had glaciers descending as low as 2,800 metres (9,190 ft) during the Last Glacial Maximum . At present glaciers still exist around the Tropic. The nearest currently surviving are the Minyong and Baishui in the Himalayas to the north and on Iztaccíhuatl in Mexico to the south. According to
500-503: The rules of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , for a flight to compete for a round-the-world speed record, it must cover a distance no less than the length of the Tropic of Cancer, cross all meridians , and end on the same airfield where it started. The length of the Tropic of Cancer is 36,788 km (22,859 mi): For an ordinary circumnavigation the rules are somewhat relaxed and
525-529: The sun rises" and "where it sets". Except on the Equator, however, these definitions, taken together, would imply that Reasonably accurate folk astronomy, such as is usually attributed to Stone Age peoples or later Celts , would arrive at east and west by noting the directions of rising and setting (preferably more than once each) and choosing as prime direction one of the two mutually opposite directions that lie halfway between those two. The true folk-astronomical definitions of east and west are "the directions,
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#1732783511901550-402: The tilt of Earth's axis of rotation relative to the plane of its orbit , and since the tilt changes, the location of these two circles also changes. In geopolitics , it is known for being the southern limitation on the mutual defence obligation of NATO , as member states of NATO are not obligated to come to the defence of territory south of the Tropic of Cancer. When this line of latitude
575-448: The title NSMC . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NSMC&oldid=1247677101 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages North The word north
600-401: The two, centered on the Equator, is the tropics . In the year 2000, more than half of the world's population lived north of the Tropic of Cancer. On the Tropic of Cancer there are approximately 13 hours, 35 minutes of daylight during the summer solstice. During the winter solstice, there are 10 hours, 41 minutes of daylight. Using 23°26'N for the Tropic of Cancer, the tropic passes through
625-530: Was named in the last centuries BCE , the Sun was in the constellation Cancer ( Latin : Crab ) at the June solstice (90° ecliptic longitude ). Due to the precession of the equinoxes , this is no longer the case; today the Sun is in constellation Taurus at the June solstice. The word "tropic" itself comes from the Greek "trope (τροπή)", meaning turn (change of direction or circumstance), inclination, referring to
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