Sunday, March 18, 2012

In the Tropics

As a bonus stop by our tour guide, we encountered this large structure.
I have heard of the Tropic of Cancer, but I did not know there are physical markers for it at 9 spots around the world with two in Taiwan alone.


You noticed the marker is divided into two. If you stretch yourself and place a foot on each side, you can say a part of you is in the tropics and the other part is in the "northern temperate zone" of the earth.


If you click to enlarge this worldatlas.com map, it shows that the Tropic of Cancer is 23.5 degrees north of the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn is 23.5 degrees south of the equator. The area in-between these zones is called "the tropics" where the seasons do not vary much.


- Karen

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome structures Karen! Great shots! Have a good week.

rainfield61 said...

That is interesting and is a good experience as well.

lina said...

Such an interesting structure.

I love how you shot it, looming over the sky.

:)

Mandy said...

What fun! I've done the stretch thing over the Greenwich meridien and in South Africa, we lived on the tropic of Capricorn.

eastcoastlife said...

interesting structures and thanks for another great discovery in Taiwan.

FilipBlog said...

Interesting article. Nice monument.

Greetings,
Filip

Anonymous said...

Great idea, one foot either side of the equator, and great shots.

My name is Riet said...

Thata is very special and interesting

catsynth said...

It's funny. I looked at the first photo and the people at the base of the marker and thought it was an interpretive dance or performance art. I guess that shows where my mind usually is...

ArtandArchitecture-SF.com said...

What fun. I did not know there were structures all along the Tropic of Cancer, stands to reason, as humans love to put monuments up to most everything. Great capture.

LifeRamblings said...

great post and very fascinating structure.

Jana said...

how interesting! did not know this:-)