The latitude limits of the tropical zone are called tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn. Where did these names come from?
When the names were assigned, The Sun was in Cancer during the Summer solstice, and in Capricorn during the Winter solstice. The sun reaches the Zenith on the Summer solstice at the Tropic of Cancer, and reaches the Zenith on the Wintersolstice at the Tropic of Capricorn.
Uh huh. And when, pray tell, was the Sun in Sir Galahad? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The designations goes back some 2000 yrs. ( that's when the sun was last located in Cancer during the Summer Solstice.) Here's a map drawn by Ptolemy that shows the tropic of Cancer. Whether Ptolemy of someone else coined the name, I don't know.
