On 21 June the rays of the Sun fall vertically over which line of latitude?
- A.The equator
- B.The Tropic of Cancer
- C.The Tropic of Capricorn
- D.The Arctic Circle
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the Tropic of Cancer. On 21 June the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, whose rays fall vertically on the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5 degrees north. This is the summer solstice: the longest day and the shortest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, and the day on which the Arctic Circle has continuous daylight.
Option A, the equator, receives vertical rays on 21 March and 23 September, the two equinoxes, when day and night are equal everywhere on the Earth. Option C, the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees south, gets vertical rays on 22 December, the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere. Option D, the Arctic Circle at 66.5 degrees north, never receives vertical rays, since the Sun can be overhead only between the two tropics.
Read the full article: Solar System and the Earth: Planets, Moon and Motions
Practice Questions
View allWhich is the hottest planet of the solar system?
- A.Mercury
- B.Venus
- C.Mars
- D.Jupiter
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Venus is wrapped in a very thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which lets sunlight in but does not let the heat escape.
Read the full explanation →Approximately how long does sunlight take to reach the Earth?
- A.8 minutes 20 seconds
- B.1.3 seconds
- C.4.2 years
- D.24 hours
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The Sun is about 149.6 million kilometres from the Earth, a distance called one astronomical unit, and light travels about three lakh kilometres in a second.
Read the full explanation →Which is the largest planet of the solar system?
- A.Saturn
- B.Neptune
- C.Jupiter
- D.Uranus
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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest of all by both diameter and mass; it is a gas giant of hydrogen and helium.
Read the full explanation →Apart from Uranus, which planet rotates on its axis from east to west, that is in a direction opposite to most planets?
- A.Mercury
- B.Venus
- C.Mars
- D.Saturn
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Almost every planet, the Earth included, rotates from west to east, which is why the Sun appears to rise in the east.
Read the full explanation →The occurrence of seasons on the Earth is caused mainly by which of the following?
- A.The changing distance between the Earth and the Sun
- B.The rotation of the Earth on its axis
- C.The tilt of the Earth's axis along with its revolution around the Sun
- D.The gravitational pull of the Moon
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The axis of the Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees from the vertical and keeps pointing in the same direction throughout the year.
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