Friday, June 19, 2009

The Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Another interesting and important place I visited was “The Royal Observatory, Greenwich,London”.The Observatory is home to the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and the Prime Meridian, and is one of the most important historic scientific sites in the world.


The Greenwich Meridian (Prime Meridian or Longitude 0° 0' 0" degrees) marks the starting point of every time zone in the World. GMT is Greenwich Mean Time is the mean (average) time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon. GMT sets current time or official time around the World.

The Zero longitude – Prime Meridian lines are represented by Stainless steel strips in the observatory courtyard. In the night time, a strong laser beam is projected from the observatory to mark the Meridian lines. The lines divide the East and West part of the globe and defines longitude for every country/region.


See my fingers pointing at the longitude of Bombay - 72° 50' EAST engraved on the Meridian lines.


The Royal Observatory and Museum are fantastic and the surrounding park is lovely. You can have a bit of a science lesson if you like and learn about Greeenwich Mean Time and the history of timekeeping…. Definitely an important and great journey in my history.

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