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The Royal Observatory (Greenwich)Newest Review: ... Royal Observatory moved out of Greenwich in the 1950's due to increased light pollution from London. Today the observatory site forms a part of the National Maritime museum and houses a fascinating collection of clocks and navigational instruments. I visited the site with my wife recently and this is what we found: On first entering the observatory site you cannot miss the famous meridian ... more |
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by flyingsparks - written on 27.04.07 (Very useful, 107 readings)
Rating:
It was an 1884 conference in Washington that finally settled on Greenwich as the prime meridian. That is longitude 0. The point on earth from which time is measured. The story of Greenwich actually starts much earlier than that. It was in 1675 that Sir John Flamsteed was appointed the first Astronomer Royal, and it was also in that year that Christopher Wren began work on the Royal Observatory building at Greenwich, the first purpose built scientific research facility in the country. The primary purpose of the observatory was to improve the navigation of ships by helping them to determine their exact location while at sea. The Royal Observatory ...



