The fight is on to save a legendary Royal Observatory Greenwich location

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Aerial view of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Herstmoneceux in 2017 Credit: David Goddard/Getty Images

The former house of the Royal Greenwich Observatory is located near the small town of Herstmoneceux in the English county of East Sussex. The Royal Observatory Greenwich was first built in Greenwich, London in 1675. At this original location, the observatory was set up with the aim of producing star diagrams and precise time -pering devices so that the British military and trade fleets could navigate more effectively during their global trips. Over two centuries later, in 1884, the extensive star charts of the Royal Observatory Greenwich made the location a first -class choice for the definition of the global length of the 0˚ length, the original markers of which can still be attended at the Greenwich location today.

But the original Royal Observatory Greenwich did not stay at his location in London forever. In the 1930s it was obvious to the astronomers that London was no longer a practical situation for carrying out astronomical research. Dark and clear sky are required for this type of observation. And with a growing London, which produces more and more smog, air pollution and light pollution, Greenwich could no longer provide the necessary conditions for this work. Finally, plans were drawn up to change the observatories, including some of the existing telescopes of the 19th century, to the cleaner sky near the small village of Herstmoneceux.

However, this historical site is now at risk. In the summer of 2024, the Observatory Science Center, who has been the administrator of the Historical Royal Observatory Greenwich since 1995, stated that they would be sold by the landowners before the end of 2026.

After the Second World War, the transfer of the Royal Observatory Greenwich took place from 1947 to 1958. An area in East Sussex was selected by sixty candidate locations in the south of England. At that time, the location was far from the slight pollution of large cities and (belief or not) even had decent weather (at least compared to the rest of the UK).

After the move, the Royal Observatory Greenwich was renamed Royal Greenwich Observatory and scientific research continued. (Much of the original Royal Observatory Greenwich location in London is still there and is now part of the National Maritime Museum). Although the institution was founded to produce star diagrams, the Royal Observatory Greenwich has now switched to astrophysical research and uses telescopes to better understand the physics of the stars and planets above us.

A rainbow stretches over the sky above a arched building in a lush green landscape — Rainbow over Herstmoneceux in 1981. The observatory dome in the picture with which Isaac Newton Telescope was housed, which is now in La Palma on the Canary Islands. | Credit: Barry Shimmon/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0

In the core of the new location of HerherceUX, a group of telescopes, which are referred to as an equatorial group, was. At its climax, 200 people worked on site to support the operations of the observatory with these telescopes. The equatorial group is a group of six telescopic dome that make up the primary observatory office. While most telescope domes use a gray or white color, the equatorial group telescopes were built made of copper, which were ultimately oxidized into a characteristic green color. This decision was deliberately to allow the couplings to “camouflage” the surrounding green hills.

In 1967 the Royal Greenwich Observatory built a new tool – the Isaac Newton Telescope. The Isaac Newton Telescope was housed in its own new huge telescopic dome (this time white), which was compensated for by the rest of the location. With a 98-inch level on its base, this new telescope was the third largest in the world at that time.

A scientist in a laboratory coat is on a massive telescope that protrudes in a hangar — The 98-inch ISAAC Newton Telescope, which at that time the largest in Europe, in construction in 1965 at the works of Grubb Parsons in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. | Credit: Hulton-German Collection/Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

When the ISAAC Newton Telescope began scientific research, it soon became clear that this scientific instrument of world class was hindered by the place where it was built. With the growth of the nearby cities in the past two decades, the site has no longer had over the dark sky. Although the best weather in the United Kingdom is in the southeast of England, the frequent cloud cover was still a significant problem-the telescope for a large part of the year.

With international travel, which is now more feasible, the decision was finally made to move the Isaac Newton Telescope in 1984 to a darker and clearer sky. It was laid to an observatory called “Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory”, which was positioned on the top of a volcano on the island of La Palma on the Canary Islands.

Although a much larger telescope is now being accompanied, the Isaac Newton Telescope, which was originally built in the Royal Observatory Greenwich in Herstmoneceux, is still used today in its new home for scientific research. Shortly after the move of his main telescope, the rest of the Royal Greenwich Observatory was abandoned in 1990, whereby the transition of his remaining staff went over to a new office in Cambridge.

In this photo of astrophotographer Miguel Claro, an Iridium flare seems to be about the white dome of the Isaac Newton telescope. — In this photo of the astrophotographer Miguel Claro, a satellite flicker shines over the white dome of the Isaac Newton telescope. | Credit: Miguel Claro

After the abandonment of the site in 1990, the location fell into a state of decay. The historical telescopes had to rust in telescopic nurses that were forgotten by the outside world. If nobody had entered, it would probably have been lost the important astronomical legacy of this page forever.

Fortunately, this was not the case.

In April 1995, a charity called Science Project took a rental agreement of the property from the landowners. (The country was owned by the Canadian Queen’s University, which bought the property for the nearby Herstmoneceux lock). Science projects restored the location with the support of the local district and district councils, restored the historical telescopes and equatorial groups with national Heritage Lottery Funds in 2004 and acquired a nationally recognized status of class II*.