L

Labha bhava. The Eleventh House in the Hindu system of Astrology.

Lagna. In Hindu Astrology the Ascendant.

Lagna Sphutas. In Hindu Astrology, the calculating of the Ascendant.

Latitude. There are three kinds of Terrestrial latitude: astronomical, geographic and
geocentric. (1) Astronomical: the angle between the direction of the plumb-line and the
plane of the Earth's equator. If the Earth were a homogeneous sphere without rotation, the
plumb-line would point toward its center -- but the Earth is not an exact sphere. Deviation
due to inequalities of the Earth's surface is termed Station Error. (2) Geographic: the latitude
used in drawing terrestrial maps. It is astronomical latitude corrected for station error. (3)
Geocentric: from a given point on the Earth's surface subtend a line to the Earth's center, and
there compute the angle between this line and the plane of the equator.

It is important to distinguish between Geographical Latitude measured N. or S. of the

Equator, and Celestial Latitude measured N. or S. of the Ecliptic. Geographical Latitude is
thus comparable to Declination rather than Celestial Latitude.

There are also Galactic Latitude, angular distance on the celestial sphere measured from the
medium plane of the Milky Way; and Heliographic Latitude, angular distance on the Sun's
sphere, N. or S. of its Equator.

There are also three varieties of its Celestial equivalent: (a) that which parallels the Horizon,
which is called altitude; (b) that which parallels the Equator, which is called declination; and
(c) that which parallels the Ecliptic, which is called Latitude. (v. Celestial Sphere.) Since the
apparent motion of the Sun, resulting from the Earth's motion in orbit, is itself the Ecliptic,
the Sun can have no Latitude. Since the orbits of the planets are inclined to the Ecliptic at an