The Royal Greenwich Observatory was established in 1675 by King Charles II to improve navigation. It established the prime meridian and Greenwich Mean Time, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a planetarium and viewing galleries.
The Royal Greenwich Observatory, located in Greenwich, England, has made great contributions to the fields of astronomy and navigation. King Charles II established the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1675 and appointed the first Astronomer Royal, a position which has continued to the present day. The king told the first Astronomer Royal “to apply himself with the most exact care and diligence to rectifying the tables of the motions of the heavens, and of the places of the fixed stars, so as to find the much desired longitude of places for the perfecting of the art of navigation.” Since then, the Observatory has performed this function, and more.
Two important contributions made by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich are the establishment of the prime meridian and the establishment of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which took place at the same time. The prime meridian is the longitudinal line that encircles the earth and was designated 0 degrees longitude in 1884. This line runs directly through one of the buildings on the observatory site. It has been estimated that there were at least 2,000 time zones before GMT was established as the international standard at the prime meridian. Today, a person can ride that imaginary line in the meridian courtyard of the observatory and be in two different hemispheres.
The Greenwich complex includes many buildings in addition to the observatory, including the Meridian Building, Flamsteed House, the National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s house. Flamsteed House contains the apartments used over the centuries to house the Astronomers Royal and their families. It was also the first Royal Observatory at Greenwich. In 1833, Flamsteed House made headlines when a time ball was built on its roof. This time the ball was designed to fall at exactly 1:150 GMT every day and has continued to do so for more than XNUMX years.
Visitors to the complex can tour viewing galleries filled with displays showing the formation of the universe, a history of measuring time, photographs taken in deep space, and other stunning exhibits. The Greenwich complex also features a state-of-the-art planetarium. Royal astronomers at the observatory study the skies with a 28-inch refracting telescope, one of the largest in the world. In 1997, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the progress it has made in humanity’s understanding of the universe. These include the first sightings of Uranus and the anticipated return of Halley’s Comet.
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