On Jan 26, 2015, at 12:21 PM, Warner Losh <[email protected]> wrote: > It all depends on the data that you are using whether the new day starts at > midnight > or noon. If you are talking to astronomers before the 20th century, chances > are good > it is noon.
Big fan of Patrick O'Brian. Frequent mention is made in his Nelson-era novels of their taking noon sightings of the Sun and declaring the start of a new day. I don't recall any discussion of mean versus apparent time, however, though the ships' chronometers are often referred to. > Civil folks chances are it is midnight. This ambiguity is why insurance > companies > say that something runs from 12:01am or 11:59pm or some other time that’s > unambiguous. Of course ante and post meridiem also reference the Sun. Perhaps make that "currently unambiguous" ;-) Rob _______________________________________________ LEAPSECS mailing list [email protected] https://pairlist6.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs
