The Royal Observatory has played a big role for astronomy and navigation in former times. It is the place where the
prime meridian is located.
The red time ball is one of the world´s first visual time signals. It was installed in 1833 to enable navigators on ships in The Thames to check their marine chronometers.
The time ball drops daily at 13:00 (GMT in winter, BST in summer). It is raised halfway up at the mast at 12:55 as a preparatory signal, and to the top 2 minutes before it drops.
Prime meridian
The Shepherd 24-hours gate clock.
This is one of the earliest electrically driven public clocks and was installed here in 1852. The dial always shows Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Public standards of length. These British imperial standards was first mounted outside the Observatory main gates some time before 1866 to enable the public to check measures of length.
From the Royal Observatory one has a nice view back to Canary Wharf.
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