Why did the British government set up the Greenwich Observatory?

RGO Royal Greenwich Observatory is a comprehensive observatory built by King charles ii of England in Greenwich, London in 1675. 10 laid the foundation stone in August, and the king also created the position of royal astronomer (the first one was john flamsteed). In order to serve as the director of the Observatory and "devote the most sincere care and efforts to correcting the catalogue of celestial bodies and the position of stars, so as to correctly determine the longitude and make navigation a perfect art". The Observatory is located on a hill in Greenwich Park overlooking the Thames in London.

The world-famous Greenwich Observatory was built in 1675. At that time, British navigation developed rapidly. In order to meet the needs of longitude measurement at sea, the British authorities decided to set up an observatory in the Royal Greenwich Garden on the Thames River in the southeast suburb of London, about 20 kilometers from the city center. After 1835, under the leadership of the outstanding astronomer Eli, the Greenwich Observatory was expanded and updated. He was the first to use the "meridian ring" to measure Greenwich mean solar time. At that time, the observatory became an advanced observatory in the world.

On the eve of World War II, London has developed into a world-famous industrial city. After the war, the population of Greenwich increased sharply, the number of factories increased, and the air pollution became more and more serious, especially the interference of night lights, which was extremely unfavorable for starry sky observation. This forced the observatory to move to Hearst Montsouburg, Sussex, on the southeast coast of England from 65438 to 0948. The environment here is beautiful, the air is fresh and the observation conditions are good. The relocated observatory is still called the Royal Greenwich Observatory. But Greenwich Observatory is not on the 0 meridian, and the 0 meridian on the earth still passes through the former site of Greenwich Observatory. The former site of Greenwich Observatory later became the astronomical station of the British Maritime Department and the National Maritime Museum. The astronomical instruments used in the early days, especially the copper wire embedded in the ground in the meridian hall -0 meridian, are displayed here, attracting tourists from all over the world. Tourists here like to take pictures with their feet on both sides of the 0 meridian, which symbolizes stepping on the east longitude and the west longitude at the same time. After the relocation, the Observatory was placed under the National Ocean Museum, with astronomical stations and instruments. , mainly used for exhibitions. The astronomical historical materials on display include early astronomical telescopes, clocks and watches, globes, armillary sphere designed by early countries (many of which were made in China at that time), and the discovery of many astronomical phenomena (such as Halley's Comet).

The Royal Greenwich Observatory, located in Greenwich Town, the southeast suburb of London, is one of the famous attractions in London. Greenwich consists of Greenwich Park, Royal Observatory, maritime museum and Royal Naval Academy. Greenwich Observatory was established in 1675. 1884, the meridian passing through this observatory was determined as the standard reference meridian for global time and longitude measurement, also known as the zero meridian. From 65438 to 0997, the Royal Observatory was listed as a world precious heritage by UNESCO. In Greenwich, visitors can adjust their watches to the most standard time in the world.