United States Naval Observatory
38 55 '17 "N 77 04' 01" W / 38.92147, -77.06694
The Naval Observatory U.S. (United States Naval Observatory or USNO) is an agency scientists of the oldest United States. Located in Northwest Washington, DC , is one of the few observatories located in an urban area at the time of its construction, it was far from the light pollution generated by the small downtown of the time.
Summary |
History
Created in 1830 as a Depot of Charts and Instruments, it was transformed into a national observatory in 1842 by an Act of Parliament. James Melville Gilliss was in charge of the project.
The first mission was to maintain the observatory chronometers , charts and other navigational equipment of the U.S. Navy. It calibrating marine chronometers by measuring the transit of stars crossing the meridian. Originally located downtown at Foggy Bottom (near the Kennedy Center ), the observatory was moved to its present location in 1893 , atop Observatory Hill overlooking Massachusetts Avenue , amidst perfectly circular gardens.
The first super-intendent was the Navy Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maury had the first time ball vulcanized in the world, created according to its specifications by Charles Goodyear for the U.S. Observatory. It was the first time ball in the United States and 12th in the world. Maury kept accurate time by the stars and planets. When the time ball dropped, a flag was raised automatically, allowing all ships and civilians know the exact time. So, time was kept not only in Washington, DC, but also through the use of the telegraph , in every State of the Union. The weather was also "sold" to railroad companies and was used in conjunction with the railroad chronometers to schedule American rail transport. In the early twentieth century, the Arlington Time Signal broadcast this service to radio receivers.
The names National Observatory and Naval Observatory were both used for 10 years, until an order is enacted, asking to use only the term Navy Observatory. Former President John Quincy Adams had wished it to be called the National Observatory. Adams spent many nights at the observatory with Maury, observing and noting the positions of stars, because the study of the stars was always one of his favorite pastimes - another reason why he issued a bill for the creation of a national observatory just before leaving the presidency.
In November 1913 , the Paris Observatory , using the Eiffel Tower as antenna , exchanged signals (radio) wirelessly with the U.S. Naval Observatory which used an antenna in Arlington to determine precisely the difference in longitude between the two observatories. See also Source
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