Relating Time to the Earth's Variable Rotation

Abstract

With the beginning of the 21st Century, the timing community finds itself again facing a decades-old problem of how to synchronize a uniform time scale with time derived from the Earth's rotation. Atomic time is the basis for most everyday timing applications, However, time astronomically determined from the Earth's rotation is essential for other applications including navigation. The history of relating atomic time to the Earth's rotation is presented, including background information related to the current synchronization method of leap seconds.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA484891

Entities

People

  • D. Mccarthy
  • H. Chadsey

Organizations

  • United States Naval Observatory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Atomic Clocks
  • Clocks
  • Communication Systems
  • Communities
  • Computer Communications
  • Electronic Mail
  • Law
  • Navigation
  • New York
  • Observatories
  • Radio Stations
  • Rotation
  • Simulations
  • Standards
  • Surveillance
  • United States

Readers

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Theoretical Analysis.