US Naval Observatory Time Ball - Washington D.C. USA - Time Signals on Waymarking.com

The U.S. Naval Observatory hoisted a time ball into place on the roof of its main building back in 1999. This time ball was the official marker of the beginning of the year 2000 and the beginning of the Third Millennium in 2001.

The Naval Observatory first dropped this time ball in 1845. This was the primary means for disseminating time to the city of Washington and for ships on the Potomac to set their chronometers for navigation.

The ball was dropped every day at noon from the Observatory's Foggy Bottom site until 1885, when it was moved to the State, War and Navy Building. It was last dropped there in 1936.

Now it is back at the Naval Observatory. You can take a tour to view the ball closer or just view it from different vantage points from outside the circular fence surrounding the USNO.

Type: Time Ball In service: yes Time of signal: 12.00 Year established (if known): 1845 Year decommissioned (if applicable): 1936 Address: 3450 Massachusetts Ave NW Washington, DC 20007 Weblink (if any): [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   04/22/2023 Benchmark Blasterz visited it 08/08/2015 Searcher28 visited it 07/30/2014 AZTech visited it

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