History and Purpose of the Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory

History and Purpose of the Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory (HM12LQ)

Location: Gaithersburg, MD 20877 Montgomery County
Buy Maryland State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 39° 8.204', W 77° 11.896'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 871 views
Inscription

Latitude Observatory Park

The Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory was constructed in 1899 as one of the original four stations selected by the International Geodetic Association to carry out systematic observations to measure the variations in latitude cause by the Earth's wobble on its polar axis.

Like a spinning top, the Earth wobbles on its axis (the imaginary line between the north and south poles), moving in and out in a mostly spiral pattern through time. This wobble causes small changes in latitude, the horizontal line divisions of the globe.Vertical lines indicate longitude. Humans navigate the globe by plotting latitude and longitude, like on a graph, by looking at changes in the position of the Sun and stars at specific times. This wobble results in periodic variation in latitude of every point on Earth, but this variation is not great enough to affect navigation.

The International Latitude Service (ILS) was founded in 1899 to measure the movement at the North Pole. U.s. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS), the oldest scientific agency in our federal government (founded 1807), appointed Edwin Smith to site and build the Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory. ILS built six observatories around the world located near the parallel of 39 degrees 08 minutes north. The first four ILS observatories were built in 1899 at Gaithersburg, MD; Ukiah, CA; Mizusawa, Japan; and Carloforte, Sardinia, Italy (relocated to Cagliari in 1978) and were outfitted with Zenith Telescopes (ZT) of 108 mm focal length,104X magnification. Two additional observatories were added in 1990 at Cincinnati OH and Tscharjui (Charjui), Russian Turkestan (relocated to Kitab,Uzbekistan 1935) and used smaller less accurate ZT of 68mm apertur, 87 cm focus. Observations however, were not continuous due to interruptions from weather, military actions, funding, and earthquakes.

The same groups of stars were measured each night at the observatories according to a predetermined schedule. Through these measurements, the irregular daily motion of the Earth's axis was confirmed and the knowledge attained by the studies is still used by scientists today to aid in the precise navigational patterns of orbiting staellites and in space travel. ILS was renamed International Polar Motion Service (IPMS) in 1962. The Gaithersburg Observatory operated until 1982 when satellites replaced human observers. IPMS ended in 1988 when the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) was organized. Data collected by the ILS and satellites continue to provide important scientific information about polar motion, the role of tidal action and fluid movements within the Earth, and weather changes. Gaithersburg remains an active site as Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems use C&GS markers installed in the grounds for periodic course corrections.
Details
HM NumberHM12LQ
Tags
Year Placed2011
Placed ByThe City of Gaithersburg
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Sunday, September 7th, 2014 at 3:59am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 310005 N 4334251
Decimal Degrees39.13673333, -77.19826667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 8.204', W 77° 11.896'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 8' 12.24" N, 77° 11' 53.76" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)301, 240, 202
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 2 James St, Gaithersburg MD 20877, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. This marker needs at least one picture.
  9. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  10. Is the marker in the median?