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A painting from the Royal Observatory Greenwich. | Credit
June 22 marks the 350th anniversary of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the home of historical historical length lines that many consider the birthplace of modern astronomy. To celebrate, we look at how the famous site is exposed to the Astronomical Research Center, time maintenance and navigation, highlighting how the purpose has evolved over time.
The story of the Royal Observatory began in 1675, when King Charles II from England decided that a scientific institution designed for this purpose is needed to solve a centuries -old question – how can the sailor move safely at sea?
In the sixteenth century, maritime navigation was the only way for countries to communicate and confirm the influence on each other, and therefore finding an answer to the question was vital to everything from trade, to diplomacy, exploration and war. The sailors and astronomers have long discovered how to establish a latitude in the sea, but despite the centuries of maritime navigation, we have not yet found a system to determine the length line.
The main purpose of the newly drunk Royal Observatory was to find a way to accurately and consistently measuring the seas length line, which allows its role to drive the ship to move in the vast oceans that separate the continents. To this end, King Charles II appointed John Flamsted as his “astronomical decree” – later known as “astronomer Royal” – and architect Christopher and Rin to design the initial structure that she created today.
Generations of astronomers, scientists and Horoian scientists admired their experiences by solving the mystery, but this would be many decades before the completion of the founding mission of the Royal Observatory. Since its inception, astronomers have been busy with themselves following the movements that appear to the stars, moon and planets in relation to an imaginary line that extends north to the south through the observatory, known as a Meridian‘
On the occasion of “Meridian Prime” in the length line 0º at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich | Credit: Oli Scarff / Getty Images
These notes led to the creation of the first Seat – A group of tables that predicted the position of the moon and the stars throughout the year – along with a booklet explaining how to determine the sporty length line in the sea, According to the Royal Observatory Greenwich. By 1770, the English population of the English poplar John Harrison also developed a complex watch, unlike the pendulum -based hours at the time, worked on a mobile ship, giving the sailors two ways to determine the long long line!
By the eighties of the nineteenth century, two -thirds of the world’s ships were transported with the maps that used Greenwich Meridian as a reference line. As such, when a conference was held in 1884 to determine the first world world in the world, or “Meridian Master”, Greenwich was the clear option, if not unexpected.
The invention of railway travel also required the creation of a unified time area, which was presented by the Royal Observatory and was adopted by the railway companies. The new Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) (GMT) (GMT) has spread and its adoption during the Meridian conference in 1884 as the new global global time zone system, making the Observatory the global reference center for time, navigation and astronomy.
Change times in the Royal Observatory Greenwich
With the passage of centuries, generations of astronomers Royal came and went, and each left their scientific achievements and personal marks on the historical site, which grew larger with new facilities and buildings around the original designer Flamsteed home.
With the end of the length line, the observatory explores other methods of astronomy, such as tracking the Earth’s magnetic field, displaying the crossing of planets and describing the bilateral stars systems. This was done with the help of strong new equipment, such as the great tropical telescope-28-foot refraction (8.5 meters), which was characterized by a 28-inch slot, which had to be accommodated in a vast circular dandruff known as the “onion dome” when installed in 1893.
The observatory’s practices and their functions were also strongly affected by the transformations of the cultural and technological model – and some personal grudges – which were rooted in the wider world yet.
Dr. Richard Van der Reit Walli, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, stands under the telescope | Credit: Keystone-France/Getty Images
For example, the nineteenth century Royal Women’s Observatory for the first time witnessed the first time, who worked for a deplorable wage as “computers” to examine and refine the monitoring data. Among their ranks, the famous scientific communication and astronomer was Annie MonderThose who developed a scientific community’s understanding of the parents star by monitoring the sizes and positions of the solar points.
Unfortunately, the Social Conference dictates that Muller resigned from her position when marrying her husband and colleague Edward Walter Monder in 1895. However, the couple will continue to continue their work away from the observatory, writing books and rented to take pictures of the sun’s atmosphere during the solar eclipse events. Maunders also created the famous “butterfly scheme”, which was used over a decade of monitoring data to visualize a solar -like butterfly -like action that occurs with the advance of the sun during its 11 -year activity cycle.
The Royal Observatory also faced its share of conflict, conspiracies and danger from its inception. The glass competitions flourished between astronomers and prominent scientific figures. John Flamsted, the first astronomy of Royal, presented a strong competition with Sir Isaac Newton, who was hoping to use the Flystad star plans to refine his theories. Flamsteed refused to launch his stars plans until he was sure that the information inside it was correct, which prompted Newton’s frustration to publish an incomplete version of work without the permission of astronomy Royal.
A picture of the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London Credit: Pawel Libera/Getty Images
The site itself was also subjected to physical threats, including the ancient bombs attack in 1894. The Second World War also witnessed a v1 flying bomb that explodes nearby, to tear full sections of the “famous onion dome”. Fortunately, the telescope itself was dismantled and moved away from the observatory to protect it from the dangers of war.
In the aftermath of World War II, the crawl of light pollution that is uncomfortable, smoky fog from nearby London, vibrations and magnetic intervention from Greenwich rail lines is not possible for sensitive astronomical monitoring.
In 1948, telescopes and astronomical scientists began in Greenwich – including the largest part of the great tropical telescope – moving to the village of Hersamestone, about 60 miles away from the fact that flystad had laid the foundation stone in 1971.
A new era for the Royal Observatory Greenwich
In the modern era, the royal observatory is working as an invaluable historical location as a museum and a place for scientific communication directed towards the involvement and inspiration of the next generation of astronomers.
Visitors are free to follow the footsteps of astronomers Royal and take the same rooms designed from Wren that she was taking by the likes of Sir Isaac Newton. It represents a strong mixture of old and new, which is characterized by the width of the only planet in London along with historical and detailed symmetrical copies of the watches used to ensure safe transport through the sea.
“Founded in 1675, it was established to help mobility through astronomical observations and keep time, starting from the precise John Vallamid project of the book of 3000 stars,” said Desi Chamberlain at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, an assistant, from the mice secretary, from Amin, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, Daisy Chamberlain. “Since then, the observatory’s work has expanded to include magnetic variation studies, meteorology, and a chronometer test for the navy.”
The octagonal room is located inside the Flamsteed house in the royal Observatory Greenwich | Credit: Oli Scarff /Getty Images
“Today, we share the wonders of time and place with our visitors through a number of wonderful permanent exhibitions, conversations, tours and heritage activities.”
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On clear nights, you can still find astronomers who knock their trade in the historical site, using the Annie Monder Astronomical Telescope-which consists of the vast beacon-shamedide telescope along with a smaller deviation-capturing transportation data, along with amazing views of the universe.
“Annie Monder astronomical telescope has given us the distinction of keeping practical astronomy alive in the observatory, using modern technology that our ancestors cannot dream in only previous centuries,” Jake Foster, an astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory to Space.com. “With astronomical photography and the direct broadcast of astronomical events, we aim to bring the scenes of the universe to the Earth for everyone to enjoy.”
“Even in the light of the London -full sky, there is a lot to see! We hope that royal astronomers will agree in the days who went to the approval of our efforts.”
Make sure to review Royal Greenwich Observatory website To stay in view of the talks, tours and events to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the historic site.
