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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
It's the place where time begins: the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England. Here you can stand on the Prime Meridian of the world with one foot in the western hemisphere and the other in the eastern hemisphere. It represents over three hundred years of astronomical and maritime history. Royal Observatory Greenwich Yesterday the observatory had its 343rd birthday. It's no longer a working observatory, but rather a historic and educational site (and UNESCO World Heritage Site). The lights of London overtook it long ago. The Astronomer Royal moved to Herstmonceux in Sussex in 1948 and the observatory work followed. The Sussex site closed in 1998, ending the working existence of the Royal Observatory.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Christopher Wren designed the Greenwich Royal Observatory in 1675. Two centuries later the Prime Meridian of the world, 0° of longitude, was established there. Besides its historical interest, the site is a leader in bringing astronomy to the public, in part through the Peter Harrison Planetarium. Greenwich - Peter Harrison Planetarium The Peter Harrison Planetarium is not a traditional domed bulding!
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
The Prime Meridian of the World is “where time begins†at zero degrees of longitude. By international agreement in 1884, it was located at Greenwich, England. But if you stand on that meridian and look at the GPS on your phone, it won't read zero. What happened? What Happened to the Prime Meridian
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
You don't have to be in Greenwich to see what the longitude of the Prime Meridian is - Google Earth can take you there. Frank Taylor, who writes Google Earth Blog, writes: The Prime Meridian (0 degrees in Longitude) does not line up with Greenwich. So, if you go to Greenwich in GE, and turn on lat-lon lines by going to the menu “View->Gridâ€, you will see the Meridian line is about 100 meters east of the Greenwich observatory ( viewable quite clearly in the satellite photo). This is not a mistake on Google’s part. The developers of Google Earth . . . chose to support the same coordinate system as that used by GPS technology known as WGS-84 World Geodetic System. So, if you go to Greenwich, England with your GPS, it will in fact require you to walk about 100 meters to the east of the observatory before you will reach the GPS prime meridian. And don’t believe anyone who tries to tell you Google is trying to realign the planet.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
News! After a sixty year break of not studying the sky in Greenwich, new telescopes have been installed in the renovated Altazimuth Pavilion. The new facility has been named after Annie Maunder, one of the first female scientists to work at the observatory, and who made key discoveries about the Sun. Professionals, amateurs and school children will use the instruments. Astronomer Brendan Owens explained how they'll use modern techniques in order to observe in such an urban area: We can use what are called narrow-band filters to get around the light pollution, and then there are the new processing techniques. We can take very fast frame-rate snapshots and use only the steadiest shots to build the final result. It's known as 'lucky dip imaging'.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Telescopes from Greenwich, of course, moved with the observatory to Hearstmonceux in Sussex to escape light pollution in London. When the observatory closed there too, part of the grounds were developed to make the Observatory Science Center which houses some of the telescopes.
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