FUN FACTS ABOUT EARTH’S SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN HEMISPHERES

• The earth is divided into the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres by the equator.
• The word hemi/sphere in Greek means, literally, ‘half ball’.
• The Northern Hemisphere is the northern half of the Earth. It begins at 0° or the equator and continues north until it reaches 90°N latitude or the North Pole.
•  The Southern Hemisphere is the southern portion or half of the Earth (map). It begins at the equator at 0° and continues south into higher latitudes until it reaches 90°S or the South Pole in the middle of Antarctica.
•  The Northern Hemisphere has almost 90% of the planet’s land and the Southern Hemisphere has 90% water. So most of the world population lives in the Northern Hemisphere.
• The continents making up the Southern Hemisphere include all of Antarctica, around 1/3 of Africa, most of South America and nearly all of Australia.
•  All of Europe, North America, Central America and the Caribbean plus the vast majority of Asia, about two-thirds of Africa, and a tenth of South America are in the Northern Hemisphere.
•  All of the Arctic Ocean is in the Northern Hemisphere as well as the northern parts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans as well as many seas.
• Four oceans: South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, South Pacific, and most of Oceania are in the Southern Hemisphere.
• There are far fewer and less bright visible stars in the northern hemisphere compared to the Southern Hemisphere, making the Northern Hemisphere more suitable for deep-space observation, as it is not 'blinded' by the Milky Way.
• However, the earth’s tilt combined with clearer skies, makes for excellent viewing of the night sky from the Southern Hemisphere with brighter and more numerous stars.
• Climates in the Southern Hemisphere tend to be slightly milder overall than those in the Northern Hemisphere at similar latitudes except in the Antarctic which is colder than the Arctic.
•  Because of the large presence of water in the Southern Hemisphere, climate in the Earth's southern half is milder overall than the Northern Hemisphere. In general, water heats and cools more slowly than land so water near any land area usually has a moderating effect on the land's climate. Since water surrounds land in much of the Southern Hemisphere, more of it is moderated than in the Northern Hemisphere.
• The Arctic is the area that is north of the Arctic Circle at 66.5°N. It has a climate with very cold winters and cool summers. In the winter, it is in complete darkness for 24 hours per day and in the summer it receives 24 hours of sunlight.
• Antarctica is the largest landmass in the Southern Hemisphere and it is the world's largest cold desert. Although it is the largest area of land in the Southern Hemisphere, it is not populated because of its extremely harsh climate and the difficulty of building permanent settlements there. Any human development that has taken place in Antarctica consists of scientific research stations- most of which are operated only during the summer.
• The Southern Hemisphere is significantly less polluted than the Northern Hemisphere because of lower overall population densities, lower levels of industrialisation, and smaller land masses.
• The majority of the Northern Hemisphere's population speaks one of just five languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, or Indonesian, while there are countless languages in the  Southern Hemisphere.
•  When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter-time in Southern Hemisphere.
• The days & nights are of same length all year around on the equator. But days get shorter on poles during winter and longer during summer.
• The moon seems to be upside down in the Southern Hemisphere.
•  Shadows move clockwise in north and anti-clockwise in south.