Talk:Tropic of Capricorn

Capitalization

I forget where I saw this question, but, yes, parts of the Earth are capitalized, according to the University of Chicago Press Manual of Style, the publishing industry standard. Ortolan88

• I concur. Akbeancounter 03:45, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

England?

Can anybody support the contention that the Tropic of Capricorn passes through England? Anything I'm missing here? Territories, commonwealths, J.K. Rowling's secret volcano hideout, anything? Akbeancounter 03:45, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

• Okay, I'm getting rid of it. "England" was added by an anonymous user a few days ago. They also tried adding "Mauritusiis" or something like that; I'm guessing they were referring to Mauritius, but they're just north of the Tropic. So whoever it is is either goofing around or sorely in need of an atlas. Akbeancounter 03:53, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

okay —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.169.201.1 (talk) 20:54, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Lattitude?

The value specified in the document, 23° 26′ 21,48″, doesn't make sence. Lattitude is specified in Degrees, Minutes and Seconds, or in Degrees with a decimal after it. The actual Latitude page specifies it as 23° 26′ 21″ without a superfulous comma and extra number on the end.. Guessing, is it meant to be 21.48" (eg, 21.48 seconds)? however, I can't seem to find any corroboration. It is often referred to as '23.5 degrees south' which is 23° 30' 00".. There seems to be some variations on what it actually is, including some easily accessable regerences to the fact that the tropics are expanding.. See http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/eischao.html for a quick summary. 203.51.235.121 11:33, 23 March 2007 (UTC) xrobau@gmail.com

(Quick addendum - the Tropic of Cancer page specifies that it's 23° 26′ 22" - Also the talk page mentions that google averages it to 27 minutes exactly)

need info desperately

this is for homework... what is the significane of the tropics of capricorn and cancer??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.187.54.85 (talk) 09:54, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Photograph of roadside marker, Rockhampton

I do not know what the photo is of, maybe a bus shelter or urinal. But the actual marker looks like http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2046707230061331190nHuQIn (archived) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Slackpat (talk • contribs) 09:33, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

but think about that brown says it is connect —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.169.201.1 (talk) 20:56, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

File:Tropic of Capricorn spire, Rockhampton.jpg

Tropic of Capricorn spire, Rockhampton

There's a spire in Gladstone Rd that marks the precise location of the tropic that is much more useful than what's shown. Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 05:33, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

The old marker is located at 23°26′16.9″S 150°32′1.7″E and the new one is at 23°23′59.25″S 150°30′18.87″E. I also found another one nearby at 23°26′22.2″S 150°27′27.2″E. The new one is over 4 km to the north of the tropic, so I'm not sure if that's close enough for this article. Also, Prisoner of Zenda, if you want that photo to be used in an article, you need to provide a license for it. --Lasunncty (talk) 23:33, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, Lasunncty.

It's odd that the old marker (23°26′16.9″S) is not identified in any way with an inscription or plaque. There's a similar structure on the other side of the road; as Slackpat said, both could pass for disused bus shelters. (That image is dated June 2008 ... recent Google Maps imagery (from Feb. 2015) shows them to be overgrown and poorly maintained.) Other than the two structures being close to 23½°S, how does one know that they're associated with the ToC? They are about 160 m S of 23°26′11.6″S, the current latitude of the ToC; as the ToC is moving northwards at around 15 m a year, they will be increasingly distant until the direction is reversed (in a bit under 10,000 years).

The spire is at 23°23′59.25″S, which is a long way north (you indicate > 4 km) of 23°26′11.6″S, the current latitude of the ToC; however, in about 270 years it'll be spot on!

The ToC ranges from 22.1°S (about 145 km N of Rockhampton) to 24.5°S (about 125 km S of Rockhampton) ... so the band is about 270 km wide - there could be thousands of ToC markers!

Your new site in Ranger St (23°26′22.2″S, 150°27′27.2″E) is well within the ToC band.

As to the image, it's one I plucked off Google Maps, to show that there are better images. I have a very similar photo of the spire ... when I find it, I will see about adding it to this page.

Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 06:55, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Found my photo and substituted it for the existing photo. Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 05:09, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

Thank you!

The reason for the name given in Wikipedia is much more accurate than found elsewhere in other webpages and books. I am glad it is like this! I would try to tell other people and webpages the correct reason too, but this is not always possible. --Zzo38 (talk) 19:14, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

I NEED AN "INTRESTING" FACT FORA THING I AM DOING — Preceding unsigned comment added by Duke18360 (talk • contribs) 20:10, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

Changing of the Tropic controversy

I see some people keep constantly posting the actual date into the article. It is right the angle does change constantly but the sun is only once a year in actual zenit over the tropic and changes are so minimal with each day that it does not make sense to write 15th of January it was here, 16th of January there. If somebody is willing to write down the mili-second degree it changes everyday than fine by me but its has to be updated every day but if you leave the coordinates that I looked out for the December when the Sun is in actual Zenit over the Tropic and write next to it 1st of February than it's simply wrong. So please stop changing the article all the time or calculate the position of the tropic everyday if you have ample time! I took myself the time to calculate when winter solstice is occurring and where the tropic lies at that specific moment, so if a person wanted to see the sun in Zenit in a given year the point is accurate. I hope this way you finally understand my reasoning!

Please see my talk page. I responded to you there. --Lasunncty (talk) 10:46, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Length

How long is it, please?

e.g. Length of the Tropic of Cancer on 11 December 2015, at 23°26′14″N is 36,788 kilometres (22,859 mi). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer

Or are we meant to assume ?

164.215.1.77 (talk) 10:33, 27 May 2017 (UTC)

The source cited for that length assumes the earth is an ellipsoid, so yes, the two tropics would be equal in that case. --Lasunncty (talk) 06:40, 29 May 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for your answer. So it has not been measured. 164.215.1.77 (talk) 10:47, 3 June 2017 (UTC)

Population

I've looked all over but have been unable to find any reliable population statistice. If anybody finds them could they add them? Malcolmmwa (talk) 05:55, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

I know Sao Paulo is the largest city (just because it's the largest in the entire Southern Hemisphere and it's south of the Tropic of Cancer) but I haven't found anything about the population of the world that lives south of the line which is the main thing I want to add. Malcolmmwa (talk) 05:56, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

Outdated number in lede, and undue precision

As I type this, the coordinates given are: 23 26 12.5 S 0 0 0 W

This is several years out of date, and I'll update it shortly. Can we make this live somehow? Ordinary Person (talk) 02:08, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Yes, I can think of a way to make this update automatically involving copying code from {{Circle of latitude}}. However, it would be easier to do it in decimal degrees rather than DMS as it currently is. Is that ok? --Lasunncty (talk) 10:03, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Name (tropical not sidereal)

The article suggests that that the name was based on the constellation in which the Sun was observed in ancient times at the winter solstice. While this is strictly true, it skips a major step in astronomic history, naming, and perpetuates a misunderstanding of the zodiac (the Greek name of a Babylonian invention). The Babylonian zodiac was always tropical, it divided the ecliptic into exactly twelve 30° signs from the Vernal Equinox (the Tropic of Aries, or more commonly, "the first point of Aries"). The signs were named by the Greeks based on the Greek constellations in roughly 300 BCE, give or take centuries. The tropics are named based on the tropical year, the path of the Sun through equinoxes and solstice. The latitudes are based on the two or four calculated tropical points. Those four points (and eight additional subdivisions) were named based on the constellations observed by the Greeks. The tropical divisions come from Babylonians, but the specific names are entirely Greek. The tropical vs sidereal confusion can be blamed on the Alexandrian Greeks (perpetuated by Ptolemy). But the Babylonian zodiac was always an equal division of the tropical year, irrespective of the largely irrelevant original names (found, I believe, in the Mul.Apin or Enuma Elish). 46.230.139.178 (talk) 10:48, 5 March 2023 (UTC)