The Royal Observatory Greenwich celebrates its 351st anniversary today. Founded by King Charles II on June 22, 1675, the observatory was tasked with solving “the longitude problem,” the lack of accurate east-west positioning at sea because of the difficulty of precise timekeeping during long voyages. John Flamsteed, the first astronomer royal, led meticulous observations ofContinue reading "June 22, 1675: The Royal Observatory Greenwich is founded"

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In 1995, he and Thomas Bopp spotted, from different states, the same mysterious object in the sky. What turned out to be a comet was named after them: Hale-Bopp.

In the 1870s, real-estate mogul James Lick established a trust of $700,000 (around $1.2 billion today) for the purpose of constructing the world’s most powerful telescope. By August 1875, he had selected the peak of Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California, as his site, taking advantage of the clear air at the high elevation. ConstructionContinue reading "June 1, 1888: Lick Observatory changes hands"

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