• Viking World Cruise 2025Viking World CruiseTraveler
    One of the original telescopes here.
    This map shows the numerous tracks they took to figure a good method to determine longitude.I'm standing on the Prime Meridian.O² building which is a huge shopping center.Military aircraft in the flyover for VE day.FlyoverFlyoverSmoke trail from the flyover. They released red, white , and blue smoke.Huge celestial telescope.

    Day 120. Greenwich, England.

    May 5, 2025 in England ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Visited the Old Royal Observatory. The Royal Observatory was moved to Cambridge in 1988. This is where the method for finding longitude was established. In 1714, the British government offered a 20,000 British pounds reward (worth more than $1M today) for anyone who could find a "practical and useful" method to determine longitude at sea because ships constantly went to incorrect destinations. (This is why many countries were discovered.)  John Harrison, a clock maker,  spent the next 45 years developing sea clocks that could keep time correctly.  From this, longitude calculations were developed.  Harrison's H-1 through H-4 were displayed here.Read more