Behide the Gates
My travels around the UK with my son. June/July 2019 England.
Our last day in London.. On a visit to Greenwich.
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park, overlooking the River Thames. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the prime meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time.
The red time ball of Greenwich was established in 1833, and is noted as a public time signal. The time ball in modern times is normally in a lowered position, then starting at 12:55 PM, the ball begins to rise, then at 12:58 it reaches the top; at 1 PM the ball drops.
To help mariners at the port and others in line of sight of the observatory to synchronise their clocks to GMT, Astronomer Royal John Pond installed a very visible time ball that drops precisely at 1 p.m. (13:00) every day atop the observatory in 1833. Initially it was dropped by an operator; from 1852 it was released automatically via an electric impulse from the Shepherd Master Clock. The ball is still dropped daily at 13:00 (GMT in winter, BST in summer)..
For More Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observatory,_Greenwich
Behide the Gates
My travels around the UK with my son. June/July 2019 England.
Our last day in London.. On a visit to Greenwich.
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park, overlooking the River Thames. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the prime meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time.
The red time ball of Greenwich was established in 1833, and is noted as a public time signal. The time ball in modern times is normally in a lowered position, then starting at 12:55 PM, the ball begins to rise, then at 12:58 it reaches the top; at 1 PM the ball drops.
To help mariners at the port and others in line of sight of the observatory to synchronise their clocks to GMT, Astronomer Royal John Pond installed a very visible time ball that drops precisely at 1 p.m. (13:00) every day atop the observatory in 1833. Initially it was dropped by an operator; from 1852 it was released automatically via an electric impulse from the Shepherd Master Clock. The ball is still dropped daily at 13:00 (GMT in winter, BST in summer)..
For More Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observatory,_Greenwich