If you utilize your smartphone ’s GPS to find Earth’sprime meridian – the north - Confederate States line of business grade zero degrees longitude – at Greenwich Observatory , you ’ll note something a bit odd . You wo n’t be standing on the monument that marks where the prime meridian should be ; you ’ll actually be resist 102 meters ( 334 feet ) to the east . What ’s locomote on ?
This discrepancy between where the prime meridian is marked and where it really is was noticed in the sixties when satellites first started to be used to pinpoint locations . The original position was denounce using a basin of mercury ; the airfoil of the liquidity was thought to be parallel to Earth , with a decent floor of truth . But with GPS we can be much more exact , although it has taken until now to explicate why there is such a noticeable difference .
Scientists at the University of Virginia havefoundthat it is the pumpkin-shaped shape of Earth that is the case . GPS takes into bill the slim gibbousness of our satellite and its uneven graveness , and thus the lines of longitude are not split evenly across the orb as in astronomical coordinates . Basically , the location of the prime meridian at Greenwich Observatory is wrong . The research is put out in theJournal of Geodesy .
“ I think it would be a good estimate to put a marking at the land site of the offset , ” lead researcher Ken Seidelmann from the University of Virginia told IFLScience . “ It could give a clear explanation for people who do come with a GPS recipient and see it ’s not right . It would show where GPS zero is . It ’s another tourist attractor . ”
It should be mention that the prime meridian at Greenwich Observatory is n’t really used for much , other than touristry . “ Observations are not going to be made at the prime meridian website , ” say Seidelmann . Nonetheless , allot to Dr Marek Kukula , the Royal Observatory ’s public stargazer , talking toThe Indepedent , stave are frequently asked about this anomalousness . IFLScience has asked if the lookout plans to install a marker .
It ’s not just Greenwich that is wrong , though . The scientist find that other markers for lines of longitude around the world were also wrong . And the 2d major finding of the paper was that these other offsets are not the same , but actually vary from plaza to place , which stick by to the team ’s gravitational force model and confirmed their theory . The biggest kickoff was in South America , specifically Chile , where astronomical instruments are high in the passel .
While there are n’t many scientific conditional relation from the inquiry , it ’s certainly still fairly interesting . And it puts to seam an challenging , if not essential , mystifier .
