On Tue 2017-04-04T07:35:21 -0700, Randal L. Schwartz hath writ:
And you should also note that the location where they charge you to take that photograph is about 20 meters to the west of where it should be. At least, I presume my modern smartphone's GPS is fairly accurate, as well as having looked it up on Google Earth later.
The meridian is exactly as it has always been. The GPS is telling where the meridian is for a satellite looking down to the center of the earth. The Observatory is where the meridian is for someone looking up at the stars. It is the same meridian because the meridian is a direction, not a place, and throughout its history the International Time Bureau did a good job of keeping it constant Full analysis is in this paper from 2015 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00190-015-0844-y by Malys, Seago, Pavlis, Seidelmann, and Kaplan -- Steve Allen <sla@ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS) UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB 260 Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855 1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015 Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m