Step inside the Greenwich Camera Obscura

There are only a couple more days to visit the Greenwich Royal Observatory for free, and it contains a number of interesting features apart from the magic line. One which was particularly popular when your author took a wander around yesterday was the Camera Obscura, at the Northern end of the site.


This is London's only public Camera Obscura, and though it was only installed in 1994, it is the latest in a line of such devices at the Observatory. Using a lens and rotating mirror to project a real-time image of the outside world, it presents a panorama of one of London's most celebrated views, showing Greenwich, the Thames, the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval College.

The Observatory is open daily, but your author recommends that readers make their visit today or tomorrow, as the £10 fine for being interested in science comes into force on Tuesday. For more information, see http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/on-display/the-camera-obscura