Project Description
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Description
Essentials about the Royal Greenwich Observatory in brief
For amateur astronomers and geographers, a visit to the Royal Greenwich Observatory is a must. Commissioned by King Charles II in 1675, it is the second oldest observatory in Europe and served as a workplace for the royal British court astronomers. It is located in Greenwich Park in Greenwich near London and, together with the neighboring National Maritime Museum and other buildings in Greenwich, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The zero meridian
The Royal Greenwich Observatory (strictly speaking, the center of the telescope in the observatory) is world-famous as the fixing point of the prime meridian and thus the division of the longitudes. The prime meridian is marked in the courtyard by a brass strip. By the way, since 1999 the meridian is also marked at night by a strong green laser.
Attractions at the Royal Greenwich Observatory
After World War II, the Royal Greenwich Observatory moved several times and finally closed for good in 1998. Today, the observatory houses a museum of astronomical and navigational tools. In addition, the development of time measurement from the Middle Ages to the modern era is presented and the connection between second measurement and global positioning is explained using the sun and the stars. The Peter Harrison Planetarium, London’s only planetarium, is also located on the observatory grounds. From the museum hill, by the way, you can get a great view of west London, especially the Docklands, the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf and the Millennium Dome.
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Phone
+44 20 8312 6608
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Opening hours
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
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10 am – 5 pm | 10 am – 5 pm | 10 am – 5 pm | 10 am – 5 pm | 10 am – 5 pm | 10 am – 5 pm | 10 am – 5 pm |
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Admission fees
Royal Greenwich Observatory | Day Explorer* | |
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Adults | £10.00 | £20.00 |
Concessions | £6.50 | £11.50 |
* Admission to the Royal Observatory, Cutty Sark, Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum.
For the online purchase of tickets you get discounts of 15-20%.
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Address
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Getting there
By public transport:
DLR: Stop Cutty Sark or Greenwich
Train: Stop Greenwich or Maze Hill
Ferry: Stop Greenwich Pier
Bus lines 53, 386 and N53: Stop Greenwich Park
Bus lines 177, 180, 199, 386 and N199: Stop Greenwich Town Centre / Nelson Rd.
Bus lines 129, 177, 180, 186, 286 and 386: Stop Greenwich Town Centre / Cutty Sark
Bus lines 129, 177, 180, 188, 286, 386 and N1: Stop National Maritime Museum
By car:
There’s a parking lot at Park Row.
Photos: By Txllxt TxllxT – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link / By The original uploader was Markhamilton at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Alison using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 2.5, Link / By Dudva – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Texts: Individual pieces of content and information from Wikipedia DE and Wikipedia EN under the Creative-Commons-Lizenz Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
English version: Machine translation by DeepL