NHAS - Today in Astronomy History

	1675	Royal Greenwich Observatory founded in Greenwich, England. Greenwich Observatory was chosen to be the prime meridian - defining east and west longitude, and the basis for the world's time zones by a vote of 25 nations at The International Meridian Conference in 1884. The exact line that divides east longitude from west is defined as the north-south line that passes through the crosshairs in the eyepiece of the transit telescope in Royal Greenwich Observatory.
	1978	American astronomer James Christy discovers Charon, the moon of Pluto. He was working on photographic plates from the 1.55 m (61 inch) reflector at the US Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona on a project to refine Pluto's orbit. The moon appeared as a elongation in the shape of Pluto that shifted in position with a period of about 6 days. It was christened Charon after the mythological ferryman who carried souls across the river Styx to Pluto's underworld.