A British observatory founded in 1675 on the orders of King Charles II to improve navigation by mapping stars, sited on the hill at Greenwich in London that now defines zero degrees longitude and Greenwich Mean Time. Its original Flamsteed House buildings survive as a museum, while the working observatory relocated away from London's growing light pollution in the mid twentieth century.
Facts
LocationGreenwich, London, England 1 MeasuresPositions of the fixed stars and the motions of the heavens 1 Operating PrincipleTransit circle timing a star's passage across the meridian plus its vertical angle 1 Classification
Observing Band In the Other Atlases
Located In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Sources
1. Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Wikipedia
Infobox
Greenwich, London, England
Chronology
1675 - 22 June, The Royal Observatory founded by Charles II.
Establishment
apply himself with the most exact care and diligence to the rectifying of the tables of the motions of the heavens, and the places of the fixed stars
Positional astronomy and star charts
The transit circle makes two measurements; along with a clock, the time a star passed a certain point in the sky as the Earth rotates, and the vertical angle of the location of the star.
Article text: band optical
28-inch Great refractor installed
In Group: Optical Observatories of Europe, Lead: location
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park in south east London, overlooking the River Thames to the north.
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