Äquator

Äquator is the German word for Equator. The Equator is an imaginary line drawn around the Earth equally distant from both poles, dividing the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. It is the longest line of latitude, measuring approximately 40,075 kilometers (24,901 miles) in circumference.

The Equator passes through twelve countries: Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Indonesia, and Kiribati. At the Equator, the sun is directly overhead at noon twice a year, during the equinoxes. These periods, around March 20 or 21 and September 22 or 23, are when daylight and nighttime hours are approximately equal across the globe.

Countries located on or near the Equator generally experience warm temperatures and high humidity throughout the year. They do not have distinct seasons in the way that higher latitudes do; instead, they typically have a wet season and a dry season. The gravitational pull of the Earth is also slightly weaker at the Equator compared to the poles due to the planet's rotation.