Time is very important to us. We live by setting an alarm for a certain time, we are upset if we do not have time for a certain moment. But not everyone thinks about what time is in the modern world? Why are there so many time zones? What is Greenwich In this article you will learn about this and much more.
What is an axial meridian?
The Meridian has received many meanings in various fields, such as astronomy, geodesy, and geography. Axial meridian (basic concept) - a meridian, which was taken as the axis of the coordinate system on the surface. If we take Earth as a surface, then scientists divided the planet into meridians, conditional lines connecting the North and South poles. There are an infinite number of such lines and they will all be the same length.
The land was also divided into parallels. The longest parallel is the equator. Although there are infinitely many such lines, they are marked on the maps every 20º or 30º. Meridians and parallels are needed to make it easier for travelers, especially mariners, to determine where they are. With the help of meridians, time is also determined. Each mark - plus 2 hours. The zero meridian, from which all readings begin, is called Greenwich.
Greenwich Meridian
Greenwich is a suburb of London, one of the main attractions of Great Britain. And what is he known for? The fact is that at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1884 they adopted a single world meridian (before, each country had its own). Then the countdown began precisely from London. As mentioned above, with each meridian, the time increases by 2 hours. So, if it is midnight in London, then in the cities through which the next meridian passes, and this is St. Petersburg, it will be 2 a.m.
Then in the XIX century such concepts as UTC and GMS were born. But first things first. UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) stands for Coordinated Universal Time. And the term GMS (Greenwich Mean Time) means "GMT." And the time format is written according to this principle: GMT = UTC + 0 hours. The first is the abbreviated name of the city (MSK, NYC), and the figure indicates the difference between Greenwich and the specified city: NYC = UTC + 4 hours.
Conclusion
In fact, studying time zones is a fascinating, informative, and interesting activity. It is always interesting to know where and how much time, what people do, for example, in Brazil or France, when I finish my evening coffee. Maybe they decide very important things? Hurrying home from work? Or just turn off the alarm? Many of us do not think at all how wonderful the world is and how much is around information that we don’t even think about.