Latitude constant latitude and constant longitude, which are constructed with reference to the rotation axis of the Earth. The primary reference points are the poles where the axis of rotation of the Earth intersects the reference surface. Planes which contain the rotation axis intersect the surface at the meridians; and the angle between any one meridian plane and that through Greenwich (the Prime Meridian) defines the longitude: meridians are lines of constant longitude. The plane through the centre of the Earth and perpendicular to the rotation axis intersects the surface at a great circle called the Equator. Planes parallel to the
Latitude coordinate system. The relation of Cartesian and ellipsoidal coordinates is discussed in Torge. Astronomical latitude () is the angle between the equatorial plane and the true vertical at a point on the surface. The true vertical, the direction of a plumb line, is also the direction of the gravity acceleration, the resultant of the gravitational acceleration (mass-based) and the centrifugal acceleration at that latitude. Astronomic latitude is calculated from angles measured between the zenith and stars whose declination is accurately known. In general the true vertical at a point on the surface does not exactly coincide with either the normal