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The Royal Observatory-LONDON-UK

(Image credit- :Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

HISTORY:

When Europeans started doing sea trade in great scale knowing time and the exact location of the countries has become increasingly important. That would lead to the founding of the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The concept of latitude and longitude has begun.

Longitude are the imaginary lines that divide the Earth, which also called meridians. They run north to south from pole to pole. They measure the distance east or west. The prime meridian has a longitude of 0 degrees, which you can see here.

Latitude lines circle the planet from east and west. It begins at 0° at the equator and increasing to 90°North or 90°South.

In 1674, Charles II appointed a Royal Commission to find out the potential of building an observatory. Sir Christopher Wren was in the commission. Sir Christopher Wren is very famous now for his architecture. He has designed the St Paul’s Cathedral and The Monument. He was also a professor of astronomy at Oxford.

In 1675 the Commission did recommend the foundation of an observatory and the appointment of an astronomer. As a result, Flamsteed House, the first part of the Observatory, was build. Christopher used the ruined Greenwich Castle as the site for the new observatory and John Flamsteed was named ‘astronomical observator. Since then, he was the Royal Astronomer for 42 years and there were only nine other Astronomers Royal at Greenwich in 300 years of its function.  Now you know how this building has got its name.

(Image credit::Fernando Losada Rodríguez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

FACILITIES:

  • Eat and drink

The Astronomy Café and Terrace, located inside the Astronomy Centre close to the Planetarium, is open every day for visitors and the public.

You can also go to the National Maritime Museum which is just two minutes’ walk. The Parkside Café is a bright and airy space at the National Maritime Museum. There is plenty of seating, both indoor and outdoor with a good view of Greenwich Royal Park . You can do a picnic in the park if prefer to.

  • Accessibility:

It has accessible toilets, and our cafés and gift shops are wheelchair accessible.

In the historic buildings there is no step-free access to:

The upper floor of Flamsteed House (the Octagon Room)

The Time and Society Gallery

The Great Equatorial Telescope.

The Camera Obscura. (There are two steps, one 8cm high and one 17cm high, which may be possible to navigate with some wheelchairs)

  • Pushchairs: Due to the narrow interior of Flamsteed House pushchairs are not suitable unless required for children with disabilities or additional needs, but an external parking area is provided.Pushchairs also aren’t suitable for: The Time and Society Gallery, The Great Equatorial Telescope, The Camera Obscura.
  • Cloakrooms: There are no cloakroom facilities
  • Toilets & baby change.
  • Maps and language guides: Download a free map to help guide you round the historic buildings.
  • Free Audio guide  are also available to help you make the most of your visit.

Opening time:

The Royal Observatory is open daily from 10am-5pm (last entry 4.15pm).check the closures page for more details.

Getting there:

  • Trains and Underground services to Greenwich

The nearest rail stations are Greenwich and Maze Hill. Direct trains run to these stations from London Cannon Street and London Bridge.

If you are using the London Underground, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) will take you straight to Cutty Sark station. The DLR connects with other Underground lines at Bank, Tower Gateway and Stratford stations.

  • Bus services to Greenwich

The following buses stop near the National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s House: 129, 177, 180, 188, 286, 386 and N1. The following buses stop near Cutty Sark: 129, 177, 180, 188, 199 and 386.The following buses stop near the Royal Observatory Greenwich and Peter Harrison Planetarium: 53, 54, 202 and 380.

  • By river

The pier is situated right next to Cutty Sark and is a five-minute walk from the National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House and a short walk up the hill to the Royal Observatory.

  • Uber Boat by Thames Clippers

The fastest and most frequent river transport services, Uber Boat by Thames Clippers depart from all major London piers every 20 minutes. Your journey time is 45 minutes from London Eye Pier, 25 minutes from London Bridge Pier or 20 minutes from Tower Pier.

Tickets: Tickets and prices.

 TIPS

  • Attraction near to it are
  1. Queen’s House(Free entrance)
  2. Maritime museum ( Free entrance)
  3. Planetarium 
  4. Cutty Sark
  • If you planning to visit Royal Observatory, Planetarium shows and astronomy talks, Cutty Sark book ticket here and becoming a member is cheaper than taking the ticket individually.

Things not to miss

  • STAND ON THE HISTORIC PRIME MERIDIAN LINE           

      (image credit: :Andres Rueda, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

This line separate east and west.

The Greenwich Line – Longitude 0º represents the historic Prime Meridian of the World. Here you can place one foot in the west and one in the east and can take a selfie. The are two reasons for the Prime Meridian run through Greenwich. The first was the fact that America for its own national time zone system had already chosen Greenwich as the basis. The second reason is that in the late 19th century most of the world’s commerce depended on Greenwich Prime Meridian sea-charts. In 1884 the Greenwich Meridian was chosen as the Prime Meridian of the World. In Washington DC for the International Meridian Conference Forty-one delegates from 25 countries met and decided to make the Greenwich Line as the Prime Meridian of the World.

GREENWICH MEAN TIME (GMT)

Before late 19th century almost every town in the world kept their own local time. By late 19th century since the railway and communications networks expanded the needed for an international time standard has increased. The Prime Meridian at Greenwich has served as the reference line for GMT.

File:Latitude and Longitude of the Earth.svg - Wikimedia Commons

  • VISIT ONE OF THE UK’S LARGEST TELESCOPES

(Image credit: :Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Great Equatorial Telescope 

The Great Equatorial Telescope is the largest of its kind in the UK. It was built in 1893 by the Grubb Telescope Company in Dublin. As this telescope can rotate from east to west, Unlike the fixed telescopes elsewhere, it helps astronomers to watch the rotating stars. It is called as Great Equatorial Telescope because it is aligned with the Earth’s axis and moves parallel to the equator. Royal Observatory astronomers measured around 600 pairs of stars each year using the Great Equatorial Telescope. Today astronomers have counted over 150,000 double stars. The Great Equatorial not in service, but it still works. It was officially being retired in 1971.

  • VISIT OCTAGON ROOM

(Image credit: :Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The beautiful Octagon Room was designed by Christopher Wren which is one of the few Wren-designed interiors remains. John Flamsteed got a panoramic view of the night sky by the high windows. Following the British Civil Wars, the Greenwich castle had fallen into decay, so this the old foundations used for the construction of this building because of short of fund. Though it was a practical solution for the project, this construction made the room less useful for the purpose which is measuring the position of stars. In fact, Flamsteed made many of his observations from the garden brick shed just outside the main Royal Observatory building as any of the walls do not align with a meridian.

  • THE SHEPHERD GATE CLOCK

( Image credit:Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

You can see the Shepherd Gate Clock on the wall outside the gate of the Royal Observatory. These 24 hours clock was the first clock ever to show Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) directly to the public. As it depends on another clock called ‘MOTOR CLOCK’ inside the main Observatory building for its accuracy, itis called as a ‘sympathetic’ clock. The Shepherd Clock is named after its inventor, Charles Shepherd.

  • MOTOR CLOCK

From 1852 to 1893, Britain depends on this motor clock to know the time. It did sent the time to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast and many other cities by telegraph wires. You can see it in Time and Greenwich Gallery. Before its invention sundial was in use, which meant half an hour’s difference between the eastern and western sides of the country. Greenwich Time synchronised the nation’s time.

  • FAMOUS HARRISON CLOCKS

   ( Image credit: :Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

In early years of sailing a skilled seamen could manage to find their position north or south (their latitude), but to calculate their east-west position (longitude) was still a problem. The Harrison clocks solved this problem. This invention significantly reduced the risk being lost at sea. You can see H1, H2, H3 and H4 clocks developed by John Harrison in Time and Greenwich Gallery.

  • AIRY TRANSIT CIRCLE TELESCOPE

For establishing an international time-zone system a conference was held in Washington DC in 1884. This conference agreed that the cross-hairs in the eyepiece of the Transit Circle precisely defined Longitude 0° for the world. Though the first observation with this telescope was taken on 4 January 1851, the true importance marked after this conference. George Biddell Airy, an English mathematician and astronomer designed this Airy Transit Circle telescope. It had served until 1938.The roof of the Royal Observatory was opened for using the Airy Transit Circle to allow the telescope to observe the sky.

  • THE GREENWICH TIME BALL

(Image credit: Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

For ships on the Thames and many Londoners a time signal was used in London  in early days. The bright red Time Ball on top of Flamsteed House was first used in 1833 and still operates today. Every day at 12.55pm, the time ball rises halfway up its mast and the ball falls exactly at 1pm.

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