ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

179th meridian west

Okay kiddo, the Earth is like a giant ball (imagine a big beach ball). We can draw an imaginary line all the way around the Earth at the middle called the equator. This line helps us measure where things are in the world.

Now imagine you want to draw another line going up and down the Earth, like from the North Pole to the South Pole. This line is called the Prime Meridian, and it's at zero degrees. It helps us measure where things are east or west of that line.

But there are other lines we can draw, too. The 179th meridian west is one of them. It's an imaginary line that goes all the way up and down the Earth, just like the Prime Meridian. But it's on the opposite side of the world, so it's really far away from us (unless you happen to be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean).

If you were standing on the 179th meridian west, you would be halfway between Alaska and Russia. That's pretty cool, huh? But most of the time, people don't really think much about this line, because it's just one of many that we use to help us understand where things are in the world.