82-900: Royal Observatory may refer to: Royal Observatory, Greenwich in England (formerly the Royal Greenwich Observatory ) Paris Observatory in France (formerly the Royal Observatory, France ) Royal Observatory of Belgium Royal Observatory, Edinburgh in Scotland Hong Kong Observatory , (formerly the Royal Observatory, Hong Kong until 1997) Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope in South Africa Topics referred to by
164-599: A Board of Visitors, founded in 1710 and made up of the President and Members of the council of the Royal Society. By the later 18th century it incorporated additional responsibilities such as publishing the Nautical Almanac , advising government on technical matters, disseminating time, making meteorological and magnetic observations and undertaking astrophotography and spectroscopy. The physical site and
246-742: A higher spot with better weather. On 1 December 1967, the Isaac Newton Telescope of the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Herstmonceux was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II. The telescope was the biggest telescope by aperture in the British Isles. It was moved to Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in Spain's Canary Islands in 1979. In 1990 the RGO moved to Cambridge . At Herstmonceux, the castle grounds became
328-610: A noted tourist and education attraction in its own right, featuring many old observatory items as exhibits. It was getting 60,000 visitors per year in the early 21st century. In 1990 the Royal Observatory moved from Herstmonceux to a new site at Cambridge , adjacent to the University 's Institute of Astronomy , where it occupied Greenwich House just to the north of the Cambridge Observatory . By now,
410-495: A paper covering "an analysis of the formidable sunspot data-set that had been gathered at the ROG, covering 1889–1901" as sole author. This analysis contained data that took 13 years to collect, and 19 tables of results. In this paper she found east–west asymmetries in sunspots, a controversial finding which she could not explain. Years later, Arthur Schuster , a famous physicist, confirmed her findings and suggested an explanation for
492-502: A period of four seconds and an accuracy, then unparalleled, of seven seconds per day. The original observatory housed the astronomer royal, his assistant and his family as well as the scientific instruments to be used by Flamsteed in his work on stellar tables. Over time the institution became a more established institution, thanks to its links to long-lasting government boards (the Board of Ordnance and Board of Longitude ) and oversight by
574-516: A plan to have better instruments at Greenwich observatory. Positional astronomy was one of the primary functions of Greenwich for the Admiralty. The Astronomer Royal Airy was an advocate of this and the transit circle instrument he had installed in 1851 was used for a century for positional astronomy. One of the difficulties with positional astronomy, is accounting for the refraction of light through Earth's atmosphere . Sources of error include
656-467: A position at Greenwich that was available by her good friend Alice Everett . In response, Annie wrote many times to the Royal Observatory hoping to be considered for the position. Annie's father submitted a request for her to obtain the job, and a powerful promoter, Sir Robert Ball , wrote her a letter of recommendation. For a year, Annie worked as a mathematics mistress at the Ladies' High School on
738-589: A revival of telescopy in London enabled by cleaner air and advanced technology. There is also to be an exhibition about Maunder's story, on the ground floor of the building. In March 2022 English Heritage unveiled a blue plaque to Annie and Walter Maunder at their former home in Brockley , south London. The Maunders wrote The Heavens and their Story (1908) while they were living in Brockley. On 1 April 2022,
820-531: A teacher she had made £8 a year and was provided housing. Annie worked under Walter Maunder on the Greenwich photoheliograph program. Her duties included using the Dallmeyer photo-heliograph to capture pictures of sunspots, find their location, and determine their properties. There, Annie assisted Walter Maunder , and she spent a great deal of time photographing the sun. She also tracked
902-407: Is believed that "the lady computer scheme began as an experiment, was destined to have a time limit and was not repeated". Forty years passed before another woman astronomer was hired alongside men at the Royal Observatory . However, the two continued to collaborate, and Annie accompanied Walter on solar eclipse expeditions. Walter was in charge of financing and organizing expeditions through
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#1732765023674984-580: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Royal Observatory, Greenwich The Royal Observatory, Greenwich ( ROG ; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory , RGO , temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux ) is an observatory situated on a hill in Greenwich Park in south east London, overlooking
1066-434: Is normally in a lowered position, then starting at 12:55 pm, the ball begins to rise, then at 12:58 it reaches the top; at 1 pm the ball drops. To help mariners at the port and others in line of sight of the observatory to synchronise their clocks to GMT, Astronomer Royal John Pond installed a very visible time ball that drops precisely at 1 pm (13:00) every day atop the observatory in 1833. Initially it
1148-795: The International Terrestrial Reference Frame , use a single oblate spheroid, fixed to the Earth's gravitational centre. The shift from several local spheroids to one worldwide spheroid caused all geographical coordinates to shift by many metres, sometimes as much as several hundred metres. The Prime Meridian of these modern reference systems is the IERS Reference Meridian , in full the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service Reference Meridian (in short called
1230-678: The London School of Medicine for Women . Hester qualified as the first exhibitioner in the final MB examination in 1891. Hester became a medical missionary in India and later married another medical missionary. Annie and her sister Hester pursued secondary education at the Ladies Collegiate School in Belfast , which later became Victoria College . Winning a prize in an 1886 intermediate school examination at
1312-465: The RAS since 1875, he wanted an association of people from every class of society who were interested in astronomy, especially open for women. Annie had first been nominated for election to the RAS 24 years earlier due strongly in part to Walter's recommendation. Along with her were two additional nominees, Elizabeth Brown and Alice Everett . None of the three women received the three-quarters vote at
1394-797: The River Thames to the north. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation , and because the Prime Meridian passed through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time , the precursor to today's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The ROG has the IAU observatory code of 000, the first in the list. ROG, the National Maritime Museum , the Queen's House and the clipper ship Cutty Sark are collectively designated Royal Museums Greenwich . The observatory
1476-896: The UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh. The old observatory site at Greenwich returned to its original name – the Royal Observatory, Greenwich – and was made part of the National Maritime Museum . In 2002 the UK joined the European Southern Observatory , building the VISTA infrared telescope at the Paranal Observatory as an in-kind contribution. The Astronomer Royal Martin Rees called PPARC "irresponsible" for how it handled
1558-485: The butterfly diagram to analyse sunspots, showing the latitude of the sunspots over time. The butterfly diagram "is one of the most powerful representations of the inner workings of the Sun". The paper originally had two desiccated butterflies but a third was added after the 11 to 12-year course. Annie was not published as coauthor on her husband's paper over the butterfly diagram. In 1943 Sydney Chapman , President of
1640-480: The island of Jersey until she was offered the position by the Chief Assistant, Herbert Hall Turner . In 1891, Annie began her work at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich , serving as one of the " lady computers " assigned to the solar department. This was a special department set up in 1873 to photograph the sun. Annie was offered £4 a month which she regarded as being barely enough to live on, as
1722-499: The April 1892 meeting that was required for election. One Fellow specifically implied that the women would largely serve as a distraction and simply a social element to the meetings without contributing much of worth. Annie did not take lightly to the prejudice against her and other women throughout her field occupied largely by men, and she especially did not agree with the results of the 1892 RAS election. The crater Maunder on
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#17327650236741804-587: The Greenwich meridian, defined by the transit instrument of James Bradley . When the Airy circle (5.79 m to the east) became the reference for the meridian, the difference resulting from the change was considered small enough to be neglected. When a new triangulation was done between 1936 and 1962, scientists determined that in the Ordnance Survey system the longitude of the international Greenwich meridian
1886-705: The IAU retiring GMT for astronomical and chronological purposes, replacing it with Universal Time (UT). In 1929, UT was redefined as a statistical combination of multiple observatories. In 1948, the Office of the Astronomer Royal was moved to Herstmonceux in East Sussex and in 1957, the observatory closed, ceasing time measurement operations. The term "GMT" continues to be promoted by the Observatory and
1968-651: The IRM), which is 102.5 metres east of the Airy Greenwich astronomical meridian represented by the stainless steel strip, which is now 5.31 arcseconds west. The modern location of the Airy Transit is 51°28′40.1″N 0°0′5.3″W / 51.477806°N 0.001472°W / 51.477806; -0.001472 ( Airy Transit ) as the IRM is at 0 degree in longitude nowadays. International time from
2050-746: The Moon is jointly named for Walter and Annie Maunder, as is the Maunder Minimum . In 2016 the RAS established the Annie Maunder medal for an outstanding contribution to outreach and public engagement in astronomy or geophysics. In June 2018 it was announced that the Royal Observatory, Greenwich had installed a new telescope in its Altazimuth Pavilion, the Annie Maunder Astrographic Telescope (AMAT), as part of
2132-604: The Moons Triton (orbiting Neptune) and Hyperion (orbiting Saturn). It was donated to the observatory in the 1880s, but was taken down in the 1890s. The 1890s also saw the construction of the Altazimuth Pavilion, completed in 1896 and designed by William Crisp. In 1898 the Christie Enclosure was established to house sensitive magnetic instruments that had been disrupted by the use of iron at
2214-692: The National Eclipse Committee of the Royal Observatory of Greenwich. Annie took part in five eclipse expeditions with the BAA , her first in 1896 in Norway. For the Maunders expedition to India in 1898, Walter was not a designated member of the expedition, so he and Annie went on their own. In 1897, Annie received a grant from Girton College to acquire a short-focus camera with a 1.5-inch lens which she took on expeditions. The lens used
2296-468: The Octagon room, and there was a catch at the top to hold it. This could then be triggered by hand, while observing the time on an astronomical month clock, that was regulated to the mean solar time . By dropping the ball, the public, mariners, and clock makers could then get a time signal by viewing it from afar. The ball drop would be repeated at 2 pm also if possible. The reason why 12 noon
2378-798: The RGO and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh , the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) as the RGO's funding body made the decision to close the institution and the Cambridge site by 1998. When the RGO was closed as an institution, the HM Nautical Almanac Office transferred to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory ( Harwell Science and Innovation Campus , Chilton , Oxfordshire ), while other work went to
2460-708: The RGO's focus had moved from carrying out observations from the British Isles to providing technical support, acting as a conduit between scientists in British universities and the powerful British-owned telescopes (such as the Isaac Newton Telescope , the Anglo-Dutch Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope , and the William Herschel Telescope ) on the Canary Islands and Hawaii . After abandoning a plan to privatise
2542-515: The RGO. In 2018 the Annie Maunder Astrographic Telescope (AMAT) was installed at the ROG in Greenwich. AMAT is a cluster of four separate instruments, to be used for astronomical research; it had achieved first light by June 2018, and contains: The telescopes and the works at the site required to operate them cost about £150,000, from grants, museum members and patrons, and public donations. The telescope
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2624-584: The Royal Observatory as a basis for measurement. Four separate meridians have passed through the buildings, defined by successive instruments. The basis of longitude , the meridian that passes through the Airy transit circle , first used in 1851, was adopted as the world's Prime Meridian at the International Meridian Conference at Washington, DC , on 22 October 1884 (voting took place on 13 October). Subsequently, nations across
2706-682: The Royal Society used the butterfly diagram as the subject of his 1943 presidential address, an honour for something she considered as her "most cherished pieces of work". The butterfly diagram is currently in the High Altitude Observatory . Annie gave the butterfly diagram to Walter Orr Roberts (the director of the High Altitude Observatory) during the Second World War. Annie co-authored with her husband on some papers. In 1907, she published
2788-548: The Second World War, delaying festivities. One of the ground-swells was to build a 'big better' telescope in honour of the celebrated inventor of the Newtonian reflecting telescope. Some two decades of development led to the commissioning of the Isaac Newton Telescope at Herstmonceux. It proved so successful that the cloudy weather was felt to be a bottleneck to its productivity, and plans were made to get it to
2870-450: The UK in general, despite no longer being measured in any way. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) forms the basis of modern civil time, and is based on the best attributes of UT1 (the modern form of UT, now measured from extra-galactic radio sources) and International Atomic Time (TAI, time kept by accurate clocks). The red time ball of Greenwich was established in 1833, and is noted as a public time signal. The time ball in modern times
2952-456: The age of 18, Annie was able to sit the Girton open entrance scholarship examination and was awarded a three-year scholarship of £35 annually. Annie studied at Girton College, Cambridge , and in 1889 she passed the degree examinations with honours, as the top mathematician of her year at Girton. Here, she also ranked Senior Optime (equivalent to second class at other universities) in
3034-471: The asymmetry. Modern science and data has also confirmed her observations on the asymmetrical nature of the sunspots. Annie published The Heavens and their Story in 1908, with her husband Walter as co-author. (She was credited by her husband as the primary author.) The book was written for the amateur readers, containing her photographs of the sun and the Milky Way, in hopes to draw in more people to
3116-415: The bachelor's degree she had earned; Cambridge did not award degrees to women until 1948. Annie, aged 27, married Walter, aged 45, in a Presbyterian church in Greenwich on 28 December 1895. Walter and Annie had no children together; although, Walter had five children from a previous marriage. Annie was 17 years younger than Walter and only nine years older than his oldest son. The oldest of
3198-679: The bare minimum. On 15 October 1940, during the Blitz , the Courtyard gates were destroyed by a direct bomb hit. The wall above the Gate Clock collapsed, and the clock's dial was damaged. The damage was repaired after the war. After the Second World War, in 1947, the decision was made to move the Royal Observatory to Herstmonceux Castle and 320 adjacent acres (1.3 km ), 70 km south-southeast of Greenwich near Hailsham in East Sussex, due to light pollution in London. The Observatory
3280-458: The children was 21 and the youngest was 7. Annie was described as having an active mind and a "lively imagination combined with a tireless zeal in seeking evidence and working out details before presenting any conclusions." Walter died in 1928 at the age of 76. Annie died almost two decades later, aged 79, in Wandsworth , London in 1947. In January 1890, Annie was told about
3362-409: The detonation was intended to occur elsewhere. The novelist Joseph Conrad used the incident in his 1907 novel The Secret Agent . For major parts of the twentieth century, the Royal Greenwich Observatory was not at Greenwich, because it moved to Herstmonceux in East Sussex in 1957. The last time that all departments were in Greenwich was 1924: in that year electrification of the railways affected
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3444-466: The eclipse in the BAA journal. The members of the association that accompanied her were Mary Acworth Evershed , Lilian Martin-Leake , and C O Stevens . She photographed the corona and observed "plume" like rays, coining the term which is still used today. In May 1901, the Maunders went on a solar expedition in Mauritius in which Annie was not included as an official observer (though her husband Walter was) and had to pay her own way. Since Annie
3526-407: The eclipse, Annie took a series of photographs with her camera and ranging exposures during the couple minutes of the totality of the eclipse. Her photographs recorded a stream from the Sun that extended over 10 million kilometres. The Irish science writer Agnes Clerke observed, "Mrs. Maunder with her tiny lens has beaten all the big instruments." Annie's description of the direction and motion of
3608-437: The end of the 19th century until UT1 was based on Simon Newcomb 's equations, giving a mean sun about 0.18 seconds behind UT1 (the equivalent of 2.7 arcseconds) as of 2013; it coincided in 2013 with a meridian halfway between Airy's circle and the IERS origin : 51°28′40.1247″N 0°0′2.61″W / 51.477812417°N 0.0007250°W / 51.477812417; -0.0007250 . A key instrument for determining time
3690-435: The field of astronomy. The book discusses the sudden terrestrial magnetic storms coinciding with the sunspots' rotation period which was seen in the 1898 eclipse in India. The Maunders thought that the magnetic storms were made of positively and negatively charged electrified particles, an "insight [that] far predates better-known statements on the same matter, and has much in common with our present-day understanding". She
3772-409: The forerunner of Greenwich Castle, which resulted in the alignment being 13 degrees away from true North, somewhat to Flamsteed's chagrin. Moore donated two clocks, built by Thomas Tompion , which were installed in the 20 foot high Octagon Room, the principal room of the building. They were of unusual design, each with a pendulum 13 feet (4.0 metres) in length mounted above the clock face, giving
3854-415: The home of the International Study Centre of Queen's University, Kingston, Canada , and The Observatory Science Centre, which is operated by an educational charity Science Project. The Observatory Science Centre opened in April 1995. Some of the remaining telescopes, which were left behind in the move, have public observation events as part of operations of the centre. The centre has established itself as
3936-444: The library, and observing equipment. The largest telescope at Greenwich at that time, the Yapp telescope 36-inch reflector, was moved out to Herstmonceux in 1958. There it was reconstructed in Dome B of the facility. There it was used for astronomy in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It was left behind at Herstmonceux in 1990 in its dome when the organization moved once again. The tricentennial of Sir Isaac Newton had passed during
4018-411: The location of the star. The instrument can be used to plot the locations of stars, or alternately, with an accurate star chart, the time at the location of the instrument. The Shuckburgh telescope of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich was used for the 1832 transit of Mercury . It was equipped with a filar micrometer by Peter Dollond and was used to provide a report of the events as seen through
4100-416: The main facility. The Observatory underwent an attempted bombing on 15 February 1894. This was possibly the first "international terrorist" incident in Britain. The bomb was accidentally detonated while being held by 26-year-old French anarchist Martial Bourdin in Greenwich Park , near the Observatory building. Bourdin died about 30 minutes later. It is not known why he chose the observatory, or whether
4182-457: The most exact care and diligence to the rectifying of the tables of the motions of the heavens, and the places of the fixed stars, so as to find out the so much desired longitude of places for the perfecting of the art of navigation." He appointed John Flamsteed as the first Astronomer Royal. The building was completed in the summer of 1676. The building was often called "Flamsteed House", in reference to its first occupant. The scientific work of
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#17327650236744264-427: The movements of a great number of sunspots caused by the solar maximum of 1894. This included the giant sunspot of July 1892 which was caused by a magnetic storm resulting in the largest spot ever record at Greenwich at the time. In her first year at Greenwich (1891), the number of recorded observations in the solar department exceeded 7 times the average number of recordings for the past 35 years. While she
4346-407: The numbers of staff increased over time as a result. When the observatory was founded in 1675, one of the best star catalogues was Tycho Brahe 's 1000-star catalogue from 1598. However, this catalogue was not accurate enough to determine longitudes. One of Flamsteed's first orders of business was creating more accurate charts suitable for this purpose. One of the noted charts made at Greenwich
4428-412: The observatory at his own personal cost. Flamsteed House, the original part of the Observatory, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren , probably assisted by Robert Hooke , and was the first purpose-built scientific research facility in Britain. It was built for a cost of £520 (£20 over budget; equivalent to £99,000 in 2023) out of largely recycled materials on the foundations of Duke Humphrey's Tower ,
4510-406: The observatory was relocated elsewhere in stages in the first half of the 20th century, and the Greenwich site is now maintained almost exclusively as a museum, although the AMAT telescope became operational for astronomical research in 2018. There had been significant buildings on this land since the reign of William I. Greenwich Palace , on the site of the present-day National Maritime Museum,
4592-430: The particles in the corona which she observed, describes the now accepted Parker Spiral structure of the solar wind . In 1900 Annie, along with other members of the BAA, travelled to Algiers to observe the total eclipse of the Sun on 28 May of that year. Annie's stepdaughters Edith and Irene joined the observation, with Edith keeping time and Irene taking photographs; Irene published an account of her experience of
4674-399: The precision of the instrumentation, and then there has to be accounting for precession , nutation , and aberration . Sources of error in the instrument have to be tracked down and accounted for to produce more accurate results. The transit circle makes two measurements; along with a clock, the time a star passed a certain point in the sky as the Earth rotates , and the vertical angle of
4756-491: The readings of the Magnetic and Meteorological Departments, and the Magnetic Observatory moved to Abinger in Surrey. Prior to this, the observatory had had to insist that the electric trams in the vicinity could not use an earth return for the traction current. After the onset of World War II in 1939, many departments were temporarily evacuated out of range of German bombers, to Abinger, Bradford on Avon , Bristol , and Bath , and activities in Greenwich were reduced to
4838-430: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Royal Observatory . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Observatory&oldid=687239072 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
4920-445: The small refractor. By observing the transit in combination with timing it and taking measures, a diameter for the planet was taken. They also reported the peculiar effects that they compared to pressing a coin into the Sun. The observer remarked: I afterwards observed, that immediately around the planet there was a dusky tinge, making it appear as if, in a small degree sunk below the sun's surface;" British astronomers have long used
5002-416: The university results list. Annie was the first woman from Ireland to receive this rank. Her mathematician tutor was a fellow of a men's college. He praised her for ability to "throw herself into her work with such success, in spite of being more than ordinarily handicapped, even for a woman, with insufficiency of preliminary training". However the restrictions of the period did not allow her to receive
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#17327650236745084-480: The world used it as their standard for mapping and timekeeping. The Prime Meridian was marked by a brass (later replaced by stainless steel ) strip in the Observatory's courtyard once the buildings became a museum in 1960, and, since 16 December 1999, has been marked by a powerful green laser shining north across the London night sky. Since the first triangulation of Great Britain in the period 1783–1853, Ordnance Survey maps have been based on an earlier version of
5166-400: Was a petition to have another time ball established in Southampton also. The 1890s marked the addition of a new larger refractor, the 28-inch Grubb in the Great Equatorial Dome. Because the new telescope was longer than the old Great refractor, the new dome had to be bigger; thus the famous "onion dome" that expands beyond the diameter of the turret was established. For the tricentennial, it
5248-401: Was an active observatory, geographical coordinates were referred to a local oblate spheroid called a datum known as a geoid , whose surface closely matched local mean sea level. Several datums were in use around the world, all using different spheroids, because mean sea level undulates by as much as 100 metres worldwide. Modern geodetic reference systems, such as the World Geodetic System and
5330-437: Was by the Astronomer Royal James Bradley , who between 1750 and 1762 charted sixty thousand stars, so accurately his catalogues were used even in the 1940s. Bradley was the third Astronomer Royal , and his tenure started in 1742. In the early 19th century, the main positional devices were the Troughton Transit instrument and a mural circle , but after George Biddell Airy took over as Astronomer Royal in 1835, he embarked on
5412-440: Was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II , with the foundation stone being laid on 10 August. The old hilltop site of Greenwich Castle was chosen by Sir Christopher Wren , a former Savilian Professor of Astronomy ; as Greenwich Park was a royal estate, no new land needed to be bought. At that time the king also created the position of Astronomer Royal , to serve as the director of the observatory and to "apply himself with
5494-409: Was completed on Greenwich hill. The establishment of a Royal Observatory was proposed in 1674 by Sir Jonas Moore who, in his role as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance , persuaded King Charles II to create the observatory, with John Flamsteed installed as its director. The Ordnance Office was given responsibility for building the Observatory, with Moore providing the key instruments and equipment for
5576-408: Was determined by marking the time a star of known location would pass through the aimpoint of the telescope. In a reverse case, this type of instrument was also used for making star charts. The stars whose position was known precisely enough for being used for time determination, were called "clock stars". By 1925, confusion about whether GMT was reckoned from noon or from midnight led (in 1928) to
5658-411: Was dropped by an operator; from 1852 it was released automatically via an electric impulse from the Shepherd Master Clock . The ball is still dropped daily at 13:00 (GMT in winter, BST in summer). The original time ball system was built by Messrs Maudslay and Field, and cost £180. The five-foot diameter ball was made of wood and leather. In the original ball system, it was hoisted by a rope up from
5740-423: Was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) in November 1916, ten months after the bar on female Fellows was lifted. She had become a member of the BAA on 25 November 1891, just over a year since Walter participated in its foundation in 1890. Annie had two stints as the editor of the BAA Journal initially from 1894 to 1896 and then from 1917 to 1930. Although Walter had been fellow of
5822-413: Was installed in the Altazimuth Pavilion, from which the multi-purpose telescope is controlled by a computer system. Annie S. D. Maunder#Legacy Annie Scott Dill Maunder (née Russell) FRAS (14 April 1868 – 15 September 1947) was an Irish-British astronomer, who recorded the first evidence of the movement of sunspot emergence from the poles toward the equator over the Sun's 11-year cycle. She
5904-520: Was made by T.R. Dallmeyer , a famous London optician. She used this camera to photograph the outer solar corona from India in 1898. With this camera she captured the longest ray, coronal streamer, seen at the time with her own equipment that she operated and designed herself. Her camera was designed with a large field-of-view for photographing the Milky Way , which made it possible to look for faint and distant corona. To take photos of
5986-550: Was not 0° but 0°00'00.417" (about 8 m) east. Besides the change of the reference line, imperfections of the surveying system added another discrepancy to the definition of the origin, so that the Bradley line itself is now 0°00'00.12" east of the Ordnance Survey Zero Meridian (about 2.3 m). This old astronomical prime meridian has been replaced by a more precise prime meridian. When Greenwich
6068-473: Was not an official observer, she decided to go to a separate location to photograph the eclipse. Of the two Mauritius corona photographs that were published, one was Walter's and one was Annie's. The only expedition in which Annie's expenses were paid for was the expedition to Canada where the Maunders were invited and sponsored by the Canadian Government. In 1904, Annie and Walter created
6150-445: Was not chosen was because astronomers at the observatory would record when the Sun crossed the meridian at that time on that day. In rare occasions where the ball could get stuck due to icing or snow, and if the wind was too high it would not be dropped. In 1852, it was established to distribute a time signal by the telegraph wires also. The time ball was extremely popular with the public, chronometers, railways, mariners, and there
6232-753: Was not credited for this, Walter Maunder nominated her for the Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1892. In November 1894, she was made editor of the Journal of the British Astronomical Association (BAA) by her husband who was president at the time. She kept this position for 35 years. Annie and Walter were married in 1895, and Annie was required to resign from her job due to restrictions on married women working in public service. It
6314-573: Was officially known as the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux . Although the Astronomer Royal Harold Spencer Jones moved to the castle in 1948, the scientific staff did not move until the observatory buildings were completed, in 1957. Shortly thereafter, other previously dispersed departments were reintegrated at Herstmonceux, such as the Nautical Almanac Office , Chronometer Department,
6396-572: Was one of the leading astronomers of her time, but because of her gender, her contribution was often underplayed at the time. In 1916 she was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society, 21 years after being refused membership because of her gender. Annie Scott Dill Russell was born in 1868 in The Manse, Strabane , County Tyrone , Ireland, to William Andrew Russell and Hessy Nesbitt Russell (née Dill). Her father
6478-431: Was revitalized with a fibre-glass dome; the old one made of papier-mâché and iron had been taken down. The telescope was installed by 1893, with 28-inch diameter glass doublet lens made by Grubb from Chance of Birmingham glass. The new dome was made by T. Cooke and Sons . This replaced a smaller drum-shaped dome. The Lassell two-foot reflector was a famous metal-mirror telescope that had been used to discover
6560-626: Was the Airy Transit Circle (ATC), which was used primarily from 1851 to 1938. It was agreed that the (Prime) "meridian line marked by the cross-hairs in the Airy Transit Circle eyepiece would indicate 0° longitude and the start of the Universal Day". (Note, however, that this Prime Meridian is obsolete; the ITRF Zero Meridian , which is more than 100 meters east, is the modern standard defining longitude.) The time
6642-547: Was the birthplace of both Henry VIII and his daughters Mary I and Elizabeth I ; the Tudors used Greenwich Castle , which stood on the hilltop that the Observatory presently occupies, as a hunting lodge. Greenwich Castle was reportedly a favourite place for Henry VIII to house his mistresses, so that he could easily travel from the Palace to see them. In 1676 the main building of the observatory, now known as Flamsteed House,
6724-545: Was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Strabane until 1882. Her mother was the daughter of a minister at the same church. Annie was one of six children brought up in a devoutly Christian household with a "serious minded upbringing." All of the children were talented, high-level academics. Her older sister, Hester Dill Russell (later Smith), studied medicine under Elizabeth Garrett Anderson at
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