The 45×90 points are the four points on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

which are both halfway between one of the

geographical pole A geographical pole or geographic pole is either of the two points on Earth where its axis of rotation intersects its surface. The North Pole lies in the Arctic Ocean while the South Pole is in Antarctica. North and South poles are also defined ...

s and the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

, and halfway between the

Prime Meridian A prime meridian is an arbitrarily chosen meridian (geography), meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. On a spheroid, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian ...

and the

180th meridian The 180th meridian or antimeridian is the meridian (geography), meridian 180° both east and west of the prime meridian in a Geographic coordinate system, geographical coordinate system. The longitude at this line can be given as either east ...

. Both northern 45×90 points are located on land, while both southern 45×90 points are in remote open ocean locations.

45°N, 90°W

The best-known and most frequently visited such point is , which is above sea level in the town of Rietbrock, Wisconsin near the unincorporated community of

Poniatowski The House of Poniatowski (plural: ''Poniatowscy'') is a prominent Polish family that was part of the nobility of Poland. A member of this family, Stanisław Poniatowski, was elected as King of Poland and reigned from 1764 until his abdicati ...

. A grand board and precise metal ground marker was placed by the Marathon County Park Commission, only to be relocated slightly and restored to visitor access since September 12, 2017. The former marker has been replaced by a small parking lot with a trail that leads to a long, rectangular park. The Geographical Marker is at the southern end of the park along with informational displays. The point has become something of a pop culture phenomenon thanks to Gesicki's Tavern in the tiny cluster of establishments in Poniatowski. They sold 45×90

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

s and registered visitors as members of the "45×90 Club". Since 2006, the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau has been the holder of the official "45×90 Club" registration book. The book is on loan from the family. On becoming a member of the club, the Bureau gives a commemorative coin. Image:Marker for the Western Hemisphere's 45X90 point (2).jpg, Close up of the incorrectly placed marker in

Marathon County, Wisconsin Marathon County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 138,013. Its county seat is Wausau, Wisconsin, Wausau. It was founded in 1850, cr ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Image:45x90 01.jpg, Image of the current 45Nx90W marker in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States Image:45x90 02.jpg, Image of the larger context for the 45Nx90W marker in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States Image:45x90 03.jpg, Image of 45Nx90W geographical marker informational display.

45°N, 90°E

The only other 45×90 point located on land is , which is at an elevation of above sea level. This point is located in a desolate region of the

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, near the

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

n border, approximately northeast of

Ürümqi Ürümqi, , is the capital of the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. With a census population of 4 million in 2020, Ürümqi is the second-largest city in China's northwestern interior after Xi'an, also the ...

. Administratively, it is on the border of Qitai and Qinggil counties. Greg Michaels, an American, and Ru Rong Zhao, a taxi driver from the closest town of Qitai, which is 110 km to the south-southwest, visited this point on April 13, 2004 and documented the visit on the

Degree Confluence Project The Degree Confluence Project is a World Wide Web-based all-volunteer project that aims to have people visit each of the integer degree intersections of latitude and longitude on Earth, posting photographs and a narrative of each visit online. Th ...

. Their visit found no monument or any physical recognition of the status and documented that the nearest community to the site documented on maps,

Jiangjunmiao Jiangjunmiao ( Chinese: 将军庙, pinyin: Jiàngjūnmiào) is a ruin and fossil site in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. Geography Jiangjunmiao is located in the Junggar Basin near the border with Mongolia, on a mesa and at t ...

, had long since been abandoned.

45°S, 90°E

In the southern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, has an ocean floor depth of below sea level and is: southeast of the nearest (uninhabited) island of

Île Saint-Paul is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (, TAAF) in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . The island is located about south of the larger Île Amsterdam , northeast of the Kerguelen Islands, and southeast of Réuni ...

; northeast of

Elephant Spit Elephant Spit is a 9 km long sand spit at the eastern end of subantarctic Heard Island, in the Australian territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, lying in the Southern Ocean on the Kerguelen Plateau about 450 km south-east of th ...

Heard Island The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall land ...

; east northeast of the small village-like capital Port aux Français of the

Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the subantarctic, sub-Antarctic region. They are among the Extremes on Earth#Remoteness, most i ...

; north of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

; southwest of

Augusta, Western Australia Augusta is a town on the south-west coast of Western Australia, where the Blackwood River flows into Flinders Bay. It is the nearest town to Cape Leeuwin, on the furthest southwest corner of the Australian continent. In the it had a populatio ...

, southeast of

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

Island, and southeast of Benguerra Island, Mozambique, and southeast of

Mossel Bay Mossel Bay () is a harbour town of about 170,000 people on the Garden Route of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the country's seat of parliament, Ca ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In March 2014, the point was in one of a few strips in a search for the missing

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned de ...

, after potential debris was spotted by satellite about there.

45°S, 90°W

Located in the southern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, west south west of Guaitecas in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, and north of Antarctica, has an ocean floor depth of below sea level.

Antipodes

Each 45×90 point is the antipodethe point on the opposite side of Earthof another 45×90 point. The southern Indian Ocean location and the point in Wisconsin are antipodes of each other. The southern Pacific Ocean location and the point in China are antipodes of each other.

References

External links

The 45th Parallel, Poniatowski, WisconsinVisit to the 45X90 point in Wisconsin (DCP)Visit to the 45X90 point in northwestern China (DCP)
{{DEFAULTSORT:45by90 Points Cartography Geography of Marathon County, Wisconsin Geography of Wisconsin Geography of Xinjiang Indian Ocean Lists of coordinates Navigation Pacific Ocean Tourist attractions in Marathon County, Wisconsin