Zenith Zenith The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e. the direction in which gravity pulls, is toward the nadir. The zenith is the "highest" point on the celestial sphere. The word "zenith" derives from an inaccurate reading of the Arabic expression (), meaning "direction of the head" or "path above the head", by Medieval Latin scribes in the Middle Ages (during the 14th century), possibly through Old Spanish. It was reduced to 'samt'
Nadir and the sun is 90 degrees below the horizon. This only occurs between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn at solar midnight. The tropic circles experience this once a year on their winter solstices and all other tropical regions experience this twice. The term nadir also applies to video footage produced for use in Virtual Reality aka 360º video. Cameras capable of capturing spherical footage are generally mounted on a tripod or extension boom that sits directly below and perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the camera lenses (when using two, 180º FOV lenses). In the case of