Encyclopedia > Rhumb line

Article Content

Rhumb line

A rhumb line is a path of constant bearing on a spherical (or elliptical) object. If you follow a given (magnetic-deviation compensated) compass-bearing on Earth, you will be following a rhumb line, which spirals from one pole to the other, never actually reaching the poles (nor is it defined at the poles).

Contrast with great circle.

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article

French resistance

... 1943. After that, Georges Bidault became president of CNR. Gestapo apparently let Hardy go. He was accused of collaboration after the war but was acquitted. ...