The United States Naval Observatory

10 August 2016: USNO Washington, District of Columbia (38° 55′ 16.54″N 77° 3 59.47″W)

Recently my wife and I attended ALCON 2016 in Washington DC. One of the tours that was available during the conference was to the United States Naval Observatory (USNO).

The USNO provides a wide range of astronomical data and products, and serves as the official source of time for the U.S. Department of Defense and a standard of time for the entire United States and tours of the facilities are usually done for special occasions such as the Astronomical League Conference.

Because tours are hard to come by, my wife and I braved the heat and humidity of a scorching Washington DC summer night and we were both glad we did. We spent roughly 2 1/2 hours learning about the history of the USNO, browsing through the amazing collection of books in the facility’s library and having the floor literally raised under our feet in the main telescope’s dome.

In addition, we received a lesson in time and what it takes to have highly accurate (down to the Nano-second) measurements. If you ever have the chance, I would recommend taking a tour of the USNO.