4 ms·
The repercussions of such a changed are addressed at http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/ http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/ Many things depend on using me
by lutorm 12y ago
The repercussions of such a changed are addressed at http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/ http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/
Many things depend on using mean solar time, astronomy being one of them. The places that actually need a strict accounting of elapsed time can already use TAI or GPS time.
- robbrown451 12y agoWhy does astronomy "depend" on anything like that? Why should they care how the rest of the world standardizes on time? Seems like they can adapt, rather than forcing everyone else to. I'd bet the number of non-astronomers inconvenienced by leap seconds outnumbers astronomer 1000 to one.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- nullc 12y agoAstronomy usually needs sidereal time. Mean solar time is a largely mathematical construct that has no direct relation to anything immediately observable. (Notice the word 'mean' ... to _observe_ mean solar time you'd need to watch the sun for a whole year from the equator.) To the extent that astronomy applications want solar time at all, they probably wants it with more precision than you get from UTC.