Circle of a sphere Circle of a sphere A circle of a sphere is a circle that lies on a sphere. Such a circle can be formed as the intersection of a sphere and a plane, or of two spheres. A circle on a sphere whose plane passes through the center of the sphere is called a great circle; otherwise it is a small circle. Circles of a sphere have radius less than or equal to the sphere radius, with equality when the circle is a great circle. In the geographic coordinate system on a globe, the parallels of latitude are such circles, with
Director circle ellipse. The Apollonius circle, the locus of points "X" such that the ratio of distances of "X" to two foci "P" and "P" is a fixed constant "r", is another special case, with "w" = 1, "w" = −"r", and "C" = 0. In the case of a parabola the director circle degenerates to a straight line, the directrix of the parabola. Director circle In geometry, the director circle of an ellipse or hyperbola (also called the orthoptic circle or Fermat–Apollonius circle) is a circle consisting of all points where two perpendicular tangent lines to the ellipse or hyperbola cross