1. the complements of latitudes; angles measured from the North Pole to a point on Earth’s surface, equal to 90 degrees minus the latitude
Usage: geography; astronomy; technical

Examples

• The colatitudes of points near the equator are close to 90 degrees.
• Astronomers use colatitudes when calculating celestial coordinates.
• In spherical geometry, colatitudes are measured from the pole rather than the equator.
• The colatitude of the North Pole is zero degrees.
• Navigation systems sometimes convert between latitudes and colatitudes for calculations.