How long is a nautical mile?
A nautical mile equals exactly 1.852 meters (about 6,076 feet) by an international agreement. First the nautical mile was the distance spanned by one minute of arc along a meridian of the Earth (north-south). This unit of distance origins from geographical mile. The nautical mile is usually applied in international treaties, concerning the borders of territorial water, and in numerous cases of official international communication and cooperation.
More Info:
en.wikipedia.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
12 Comments
Warren Suggs
Likely they mixed international standards and used us comma for miles and non-us period for meters. So in US 1,852 meters, outside 1.852 meters are the same thing.
Julie Allen
Ridiculous to provide choices only in feet, should also have provided metres.
Julie Allen
Eric Bittner, 1.852 metres is just over 6 feet.
Sean Philips
Rob Farr, Warren Suggs, Warren, you’re right. It should read 1.852 kilometres NOT 1.852 metres.
Rob Farr
My maritime background was helpful with this one ... no excuse for getting it wrong.
Rob Farr
Warren Suggs, no, 1.852 metres is less than 2.0 metres ... 1,852 metres is correct.
George Oliver Prince
Knew it was longer than a regular mile. Guessed right this time. Now I know the answer
debrarice
Yes it is.
mkrash
Nice
DannyBoy
Good guess, got it.
Eric Bittner
1.852 km is correct. It's actually a very useful unit for navigation and celestial navigation since it corresponds to 1 min of arc on a spherical model of the Earth. Hence, by comparing the predicted altitude to the observed altitude of a celestial object, one can
obtain a precise line-of-position.
royalsfan
I guess if you lived on the ocean this would be well known.