Explore the Universe with Hertford Astronomy Group

Join our monthly meetings and astrophotography sessions for all ages at the University of Hertfordshire.

Next Meeting:

Wednesday December 10th at 8:00pm

The History of Longitude at Greenwich

Greg Smye-Rumsby

This tells the tortuous difficulties of navigation at sea, leading to the riches that it brought in the way of trade once the many problems had been overcome.

It looks at the Board of Longitude, the competition to find the best answer to determining a ship's position, and the worldwide agreement necessary to make navigation possible in the first place.

It also covers how time works with regard to the rotation of the Earth, the movement of the stars and the shape of the Earth's orbit.

Greg Smye-Rumsby has essentially two astronomical careers.

Firstly, he is a specialist planetarium presenter for the Royal Observatory Greenwich. This consists of presenting planetarium shows to schools and public alike but also providing teaching artworks and slides for the many school and public courses.

He has also been asked to cover corporate evenings, TV presentations and provide engaging discourses for the ROG winter programme "An Evening with the Stars".

Secondly, Greg is a supplier of diagrams and celestial maps for Astronomy Now magazine and has also written a few articles.

Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.

Stephen Hawking

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