What is Great circle?
[[Image:Small and great circles 3d.png|thumb|The great circle is in [[red]]]] A '''great circle''' is the largest possible [[circle]] that can be drawn on a [[sphere]], one that divides the [[surface]] into equal halves, called [[hemisphere]]s. It is a circle that has the same [[diameter]] as the sphere it was drawn on. These [[Curve|curves]] are [[geodesic]]s in the sphere and all have the same [[circumference]], that is, the length around of the circle. There are an [[Infinity|infinite]] number of great circles that can be drawn on any perfect sphere. The [[longitude]] lines on a [[globe]] all form great circles that pass through the same two [[Point (geometry)|points]] (the [[North Pole]] and the [[South Pole]]). The [[Equator]] is another great circle. Great Circles can be used to determine the shortest surface distance between two points on a sphere (or on the [[Earth]]). A straight [[line]] from plane [[Euclidean geometry]] corresponds to a Great Circle in [[Non-Euclidean geometry|non-Euclidean]] spherical [[geometry]]. ==Other websites== *[http://br.geocities.com/simaowilson/navisfera.html Great circle ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027002922/http://br.geocities.com/simaowilson/navisfera.html |date=2009-10-27 }} {{in lang|pt}} {{Math-stub}} [[Category:Shapes]]