Time is very important to us. We live by setting an alarm for a certain time, we get 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 the axial meridian?
Meridian has received many meanings in different fields, such as astronomy, geodesy and geography. Axial meridian (basic concept) - the meridian, which was taken as the axis of the coordinate system on the surface. If we take the 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 of the same length.
The earth was also divided into parallels. The longest parallel is the equator. Although there are an infinite number of such lines, they are marked on the maps every 20º or 30º. Meridians and parallels are needed to make it easier for travelers, and especially navigators, to determine where they are. With the help of meridiansdetermine the time. Each mark is plus 2 hours. The zero meridian, from which all counts start, is called Greenwich.
Greenwich meridian
Greenwich is a suburb of London, one of the main attractions of the UK. What is he known for? The fact is that in the Royal Observatory of Greenwich in 1884 they adopted a single world meridian (earlier, each country had its own). Then the countdown began precisely from London. As mentioned above, with each meridian, 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 am.
Then in the 19th century such concepts as UTC and GMS were born. But first things first. UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time. And the term GMS (Greenwich Mean Time) means "Greenwich Mean Time". And the time reference format is written according to this principle: GMT=UTC + 0 hours. The abbreviated name of the city (MSK, NYC) is written first, and the number indicates the difference between Greenwich and the specified city: NYC=UTC + 4 hours.
Conclusion
In fact, the study of time zones is a fascinating, informative and interesting activity. It is always interesting to find out where and what time it is, what people do, for example, in Brazil or France, when I finish my evening coffee. Maybe they are doing something very important? Rushing home from work? Or just turn off the alarm? Many of us don’t think at all how beautiful the world is and how much information is unknown to us, about which wedon't even think about it.
