What describes the great circle?

Master the Navigation, Seamanship, and Shiphandling (NSS) – Officer of the Deck (OOD) Phase 2 Exam with engaging flashcards and multiple choice questions, complete with hints and explanations. Prepare comprehensively for your test!

Multiple Choice

What describes the great circle?

The fastest/shortest route between two points on Earth is along a great circle. A great circle is the intersection of a plane that passes through the Earth’s center with the globe; it represents the geodesic on a sphere, so any path following that circle is the shortest distance over the surface between the two points. In navigation, this is the path you’d follow to minimize distance, though on a flat chart like Mercator it often appears as a curved line (the only exception being the equator, which is itself a great circle and is a straight line on Mercator). The other statements don’t hold generally: a great-circle path is not typically a straight line on a Mercator projection; it does not have to lie along the equator, since many great circles are inclined relative to it; and a great circle can cross the poles (for example, a meridian great circle passes from one pole to the other).

The fastest/shortest route between two points on Earth is along a great circle. A great circle is the intersection of a plane that passes through the Earth’s center with the globe; it represents the geodesic on a sphere, so any path following that circle is the shortest distance over the surface between the two points. In navigation, this is the path you’d follow to minimize distance, though on a flat chart like Mercator it often appears as a curved line (the only exception being the equator, which is itself a great circle and is a straight line on Mercator).

The other statements don’t hold generally: a great-circle path is not typically a straight line on a Mercator projection; it does not have to lie along the equator, since many great circles are inclined relative to it; and a great circle can cross the poles (for example, a meridian great circle passes from one pole to the other).

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