In celebration of the UK entering Daylight Savings today I visited Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian. Adventuring to the southern end of London Daff and I climbed the hill to Royal Observatory and joined the masses standing on the line.
The Prime Meridian is the zero point for longitude. On one side time is GMT+11, on the other GMT+0. On one side you are standing on the western hemisphere, the other: the east. While moving from one side to the other achieves nothing in reality (unlike the international date line) it was still fun to see something that means nothing other than “zero”. Although the signage would have you believe you are at “… the center of all time and space!”
Oh and, this post also marks the return of the Odyssey Video Blog. Watch in awe as I take the Prime Meridian and make it my bitch!
By: simv
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eheeh , you’re a dag, Simon
March 30th, 2009 at 8:03 pmExtra points for anyone that can explain the origin of that longitude as the zero point without referring to a reference first.
March 30th, 2009 at 9:47 pmNils, it’s something to do with Uranus pointing at 90 degrees to an obvious geological landmark, in this case the space between the steel strips that Simon crossed over!
Do I get the points???
March 31st, 2009 at 11:38 am