The 50th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 50 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. At this latitude the sun is visible for 16 hours, 22 minutes during the summer solstice and 8 hours, 4 minutes during the winter solstice. The maximum altitude of the sun during the summer solstice is 63.44 degrees and during the winter solstice it is 16.56 degrees. During the summer solstice, nighttime does not get beyond astronomical twilight, a condition which lasts throughout the month of June. It is possible to view both astronomical dawn and dusk every day of the month of May. At this latitude, the average sea surface temperature between 1982 and 2011 was about 8.5 °C (47.3 °F).

Around the world

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the parallel 50° north passes through: ! scope="col" width="125" | Coordinates ! scope="col" | Country, territory or sea ! scope="col" | Notes ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | English Channel ! scope="row" | 🇫🇷 Picardy — passing just north of Amiens Nord-Pas-de-Calais — for about 13 km ! scope="row" | 🇧🇪 ! scope="row" | 🇫🇷 ! scope="row" | 🇧🇪 ! scope="row" | 🇱🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇩🇪 Hesse Rhineland-Palatinate — passing through Mainz city centre Hesse — passing just south of Frankfurt, crossing a runway of FRA international airport and passing just south of DCF77 time signal transmitter Bavaria — passing just north of Bayreuth ! scope="row" | 🇨🇿 ! scope="row" | 🇵🇱 ! scope="row" | 🇨🇿 ! scope="row" | 🇵🇱 Passing through southern districts of Tarnów (on the 21st meridian east) Passing through southern districts of Rzeszów (on the 22nd meridian east) ! scope="row" | 🇺🇦 Ternopil Oblast — passing through Pochaiv Khmelnytskyi Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast — passing through Andrushivka Kyiv Oblast Cherkasy Oblast Poltava Oblast — passing through Lubny Kharkiv Oblast — passing through Kharkiv city centre ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇺🇦 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 Voronezh Oblast — passing just north of Boguchar Rostov Oblast Volgograd Oblast — passing just south of Kamyshin ! scope="row" | 🇰🇿 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇰🇿 Aktobe Province — passing just north of Alga and Karabutak Kostanay Province — passing just south of Arkalyk Karagandy Province — passing just south of Temirtau and just north of Karaganda East Kazakhstan Province — passing through the northern outskirts of Oskemen ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 Tuva ! scope="row" | 🇲🇳 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇲🇳 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇲🇳 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇲🇳 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇲🇳 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 Zabaykalsky Krai ! scope="row" | 🇲🇳 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | 🇲🇳 ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" | Heilongjiang ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 Khabarovsk Krai ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Strait of Tartary ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Sea of Okhotsk ! scope="row" | 🇷🇺 ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Pacific Ocean ! scope="row" | 🇨🇦 Alberta — passing through the city of Medicine Hat Saskatchewan it passes a few km south of the cities of Swift Current, Moose Jaw and the capital, Regina Manitoba — passing just north of Winnipeg Ontario — passing through Lake Nipigon Quebec - passing through the town of Port-Cartier ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Gulf of Saint Lawrence ! scope="row" | 🇨🇦 ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | White Bay ! scope="row" | 🇨🇦 ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Atlantic Ocean ! scope="row" | 🇨🇦 ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | Atlantic Ocean ! scope="row" | ! scope="row" style="background:#b0e0e6;" | English Channel

Sakhalin island

From the signing of the 1875 Treaty of Saint Petersburg until the Russo-Japanese War which broke in 1904, the Russian Empire had full control of Sakhalin island. As a result of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth that brought an end to the Russo-Japanese War, the portion of the island south of the 50th parallel line became Japanese territory, part of Karafuto Prefecture. However, following the month long Soviet–Japanese War during the summer of 1945, the entire island was reunified under Soviet control.