[fitsbits] Re: leap second alert

[Clive Page]

In article <Pine.OSF.3.96.991214080223.23121A-100000 at rlsaxps.bnsc.rl.ac.uk>,
Patrick Wallace  <ptw at star.rl.ac.uk> wrote:
>I detect a fair degree of consensus among the views recently expressed
>in this thread.  I've already sent my comments to USNO, but here's a
>nutshell version:
>
>1) OK, I can see why there's a move to freeze UTC and do away with leap
>   seconds. The public don't understand them, the time-board manufacturers
>   never got their act together, and sometimes even observatories haven't
>   quite tamed them.

Indeed.  I was astonished to find that ESA still insist on using UTC for
all their spacecraft operations, when TAI (or even TT) would be so much
more sensible.  Because they lack confidence in handling leap seconds, it
turns out that they will be ceasing operations on XMM a little before each
leap second, and restarting again afterwards.  

I guess it's true that any fully logical change will cost money, but one
possible change is just not to bother inserting any more leap seconds after
the next one.  Slowly UTC will drift away from mean solar time, but
practicaly nobody will care, for centuries at least.   A more logical
change would be for the authorities in each country to pass new legislation
redefining their local time standard to be based on TAI rather than UTC,
but this would cost money.
-- 
-- 
Clive Page,
Dept of Physics & Astronomy,               
University of Leicester.