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The Royal Observatory (Greenwich)
 The Royal Observatory (Greenwich) ... scientific sites in the world. It was founded by Charles II in 1675 and is, by international decree, the official starting point for each new day, year and millennium (at the stroke of midnight GMT as measured from the Prime Meridian). The Observatory, part of the National Maritime Museum, is one of the most famous features of Maritime Greenwich – since 1997 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors to the Observatory can stand in both the eastern and western hemispheres simultaneously by placing their feet either side of the Prime Meridian - the centre of world time and space. The Observatory galleries unravel the extraordinary phenomena of time, space and astronomy, the Planetarium lets visitors explore the wonders of the heavens and Flamsteed House, Sir Christopher Wren’s original building, also has London's only public camera obscura.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 ... line with an almost constant stream of visitors queuing up to stand with one foot in each hemisphere. We joined the queue and got some photographs taken with one of us in the east, and the other in the west.
Before starting on the main tour of the observa...more |
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The Royal Observatory (Greenwich): Measuring the History of Time (493 words)
by flyingsparks - written on 27.04.07 (Very useful, 107 readings)
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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 ...
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