Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-06-16
American Scientist, July-August 2011, v99 n4 p312
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Before atomic timekeeping, clocks were set to the skies. But starting in 1972, radio signals began broadcasting atomic seconds and leap seconds have occasionally been added to that stream of atomic seconds to keep the signals synchronized with the actual rotation of Earth. Such adjustments were considered necessary because Earth's rotation is less regular than atomic timekeeping. In January 2012, a United Nations-affiliated organization could permanently break this link by redefining Coordinated Universal Time. To understand the importance of this potential change, it's important to understand the history of human timekeeping.
Allen Steve
Finkleman David
Seago John
Seaman Rob
Seidelmann Kenneth P.
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