Earth

Earth, otherwise known as the world, is the third planet from the Sun and the
only object in the
Universe known to harbor life. It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the
largest of the
four terrestrial planets. It is spherical in shape and the sizes of different aspects of
it is mentioned
below-
Radius: 3,959 miles or 6371 km
Area: 196.9 million miles²
Mass: 5.972 × 1024 kg
Distance from Sun: 92.96 million miles
Age: 4.543 billion years
Circumference : 24,901 miles or 40,075 km.
Density: 5.51 g/cm3
Circumference:
The distance around the earth that encloses it to form a boundary for which the
earth takes the
geometric shape of a sphere is called the circumference of the earth. It is
approximately 40,075
km or 24,901 miles.
Diameter:
The straight line passing from side to side through the center of the earth is called
the diameter of the earth. It is measured as the half of the radius of the earth.
Diameter of the earth is, thus,
approximately 7917.5 miles.
Radius:
The straight line extending from the center of the earth to the circumference or
surface of it is
referred to as the radius of the Earth. It is half the diameter of the earth and is
measured to be
approximately 3959 miles.
Latitude:
The angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator, or of a
celestial
object north or south of the celestial equator is known as latitude.
It is usually expressed in degrees and minutes.
The lines around the surface of the earth running parallel to the equator
situated north or
south of the equator are known as latitudes.
These lines range from 0° at the Equator to 90° (North or South) at the poles.
Important latitudes are namely-
(i) Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degree North)
(ii) Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degree South)
Longitude:
Angular distance east or west to prime meridian on the earth's surface,
measured by the angle contained between the meridian of a particular place
and the prime meridian of Greenwich, England is known as longitude.
It is expressed either in degrees or by some corresponding difference in time.
The perpendicular lines to the equator, east or west of the prime meridian are
known as longitudes.
 These lines range from 0° at the Prime Meridian to +180° eastward and
−180° westward.
Meridian:
An imaginary line forming a great circle that passes through the Earth's North
and
South geographic poles.
Either half of such a circle from pole to pole.
All the places on the same meridian have the same longitude.
 Prime Meridian:
The Greenwich Meridian is a north-south line selected as the zero-reference
line for astronomical observations.
The line in Greenwich in London, UK represents the world’s prime meridian.
Longitude zero degrees.
 Every place on Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from this
line.
International date line:
The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line of navigation on the
surface of the Earth that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and
demarcates the change of one calendar day to the next i.e. crossing the date line
moving east, a day is subtracted, whereas moving west a day is added.
The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line of longitude on the Earth's
surface located at about 180 degrees east (or west) of the Greenwich Meridian.
It passes through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180°
line
of longitude but deviating to pass around some territories and island groups.
Note:
i. The Prime Meridian divides the Earth’s eastern and western hemispheres just as
the Equator
divides the northern and southern hemispheres.
ii. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich is the home to the time zone named
Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT). This time zone was first adopted as the world’s time standard at the
Washington Meridian
Conference in 1884.
iii. The term "meridian" comes from the Latin meridies, meaning "midday"; the
sun crosses a given
meridian midway between the times of sunrise and sunset on that meridian.
iv. The same Latin stem gives rise to the terms a.m. (ante meridiem) and p.m.
(post meridiem) used
to disambiguate hours of the day when utilizing the 12-hour clock.
v. As there are 360 degrees in a circle, the meridian on the opposite side of the
earth from
Greenwich, the International Date Line forms the other half of a circle with the
one through
Greenwich, is 180° longitude.
vi. The meridians from West of Greenwich (0°) to the International Date Line
(180°) define the
Western Hemisphere.
vii. The meridians from East of Greenwich (0°) to the International Date Line
(180°) define the
Eastern Hemisphere.
Time zones:

the term time zone can be used to describe several different things, but mostly it
refers to the local time of a region or a country.

Our Time Zone Map is always current.

timeanddate.com
At timeanddate.com we define a time zone as a region where the same standard
time is used.
Time Difference from UTC
The local time within a time zone is defined by its offset (difference) from
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the world's time standard.
UTC time changes 1 hour forward and backward corresponding to a 1-hour
difference in mean solar time for every 15 degrees east or west of the prime
meridian (0° longitude) in Greenwich, London, United Kingdom. The offset is
expressed as either UTC- or UTC+ and the number of hours and minutes.
Interactive Time Zone Map
More Than 24 Time Zones
If each time zone were 1 hour apart, there would be 24 in the world. However,
the actual borders on the time zone map have been drawn to match up with both
internal and international borders, and rarely match up exactly with the 15-
degree longitudes. Also, the International Date Line (IDL), creates 3 time zones
and several time zones are only 30 and 45 minutes apart. This makes the total
number of time zones worldwide much higher.