<http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/cgsic-%E2%80%93-the-rest-better-late-never-8956
>
-- Richard Langley
Thanks! Very interesting. I especially like the connection drawn
between sunspots and Stradivarius :-)
Beard's quote that the “astronomical community, at large, has moved
[away from UTC] to dynamic relativistic time scales based on TT(1980)"
is rather misleading. First, astronomers "at large" continue to use
UTC widely for almost every conceivable purpose - it is precisely that
UTC remains a flavor of Universal Time that permits this. Second,
astronomers have always been at the forefront of defining and using
new timescales - we're not naively looking for a single standard, but
value each timescale as with the bouquet of a fine wine. Third, there
will always be a role for UT in steering and scheduling Earth-based
telescopes - the role is simply evolving in response to new IAU
standards. And fourth, this gives the impression that astronomers are
lonely luddites. Rather, UTC planning should focus on the
requirements (whatever they are) for aligning civil timekeeping with
mean solar time, and the range of possible mechanisms for satisfying
those requirements.
I wonder whether it really took them the entire 10 years to realize
that WP7A failing to act was the same as WP7A recommending the
elimination of leap seconds.
Rob Seaman
NOAO
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