Where East Meets West

Trip Start Oct 22, 2005
1
98
224
Trip End Ongoing


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of United Kingdom  ,
Monday, April 17, 2006

Have you ever had the urge to place one foot in the West and one foot in the East? Strange question but to be honest we hadn't, so why not go to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich to see the Meridian Line? The Meridian Line is an imaginary line which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole. By international convention it runs through "the primary transit" instrument (main telescope) at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Interesting stuff hey? It is known as Zero Longitude and it is the line from which all other lines of longitude are measured. This includes the line that runs 180° away from Greenwich also known as the International Date Line.

We also found out why time-zones are quoted as plus Greenwich Mean time (+GMT). This dates back to October 1884 when the US President got everyone together for the International Meridian Conference.
01 - Either Side
01 - Either Side
At the Conference the following important principles were established:

* It was desirable to adopt a single world meridian to replace the numerous one's
already in existence.

* The Meridian passing through the principal Transit Instrument at the Observatory at Greenwich was to be the 'initial meridian'.

* That all longitude would be calculated both east and west from this meridian up to 180°.

* All countries would adopt a universal day.

* The universal day would be a Mean Solar Day, beginning at the Mean Midnight at Greenwich and counted on a 24 hour clock.

* That nautical and astronomical days everywhere would begin at mean midnight 02 - The Prime Meridian
02 - The Prime Meridian
 .

* All technical studies to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of time and space would be supported.

Amazing that you take these everyday things like world time and locations, for granted, but you never knew how they came into existence. After our education experience we wandered through the lovely Greenwich Park and back past the Cutty Sark, one of the only tea clippers from the late 1800s still in existence, that's now open to the public. Since we were down in the East Enders part of town we also headed across on the DLR railway to the Thames Barrier. This weird looking construction is there to protect London in-case the River Thames floods. Hopefully with global warming hotting up this wont happen.
Slideshow Print this entry London hotels