DENVER (KDVR) — If you started flying east or west in a perfectly straight line from Denver International Airport, what cities or countries would you expect to encounter?

The latitude — how far north something is relative to the equator — of the Denver metro area sits between the 39th and 40th parallels. The 39th parallel is located north of Colorado Springs and the 40th parallel goes through the middle of Boulder.

These lines circle the globe and have even been used in the past to decide borders, including both the southern and northern borders of Colorado, which are at the 37th and 41st parallels respectively.

They can also be used to see where exactly a place is located relative to the rest of the world.

What are some of the cities and countries you would encounter?

• United States:
  • Indianapolis
  • Columbus, Ohio
  • Philadelphia
  • Reno, Nevada
• Europe:
  • Portugal
  • Madrid, Spain
  • Italy
  • Albania
  • Greece
• Asia:
  • Turkey
  • Armenia
  • Iran
  • Beijing, China
  • North Korea
  • Japan

There are several other countries not included on the list that are in the same approximate latitude as Denver: Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The two major international cities that would be passed through are Madrid, Spain, which is around the 40th parallel, and Beijing, China, which is just about on the same latitude as the Mile High City.

Some cities are just a bit too far north or south. This includes the Italian city of Naples, which would be located north of Fort Collins, and Athens, Greece, which would be south of Pueblo.

Lisbon, Portugal is also located around the same latitude as Colorado Springs.