Royal Greenwich Observatory

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The Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) was founded in 1675 at Greenwich, East London, to provide navigational information to sailors. After World War II it moved to Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex, where the 2.5-m/8.2-ft Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) was constructed in 1967. Following the relocation of the INT to the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, RGO was relocated to Cambridge in 1988–90. In 1998 the Cambridge site was closed and the RGO merged with the Royal Observatory Edinburgh to form a new Astronomy Technology Centre on the Edinburgh site.

The observatory was founded by King Charles II. The eminence of its work resulted in Greenwich Time and the Greenwich Meridian being adopted as the international standard of reference in 1884.

The single star represents the unity of the former French and British territories. Effective date: 20 May 1975. >>