As noted before in LEAPSECS, at the beginning of 2003 the IAU
effectively abolished the Vernal Equinox as we knew it, and new
formulae came into use for determining UT1, and thus leap seconds.
While the new paradigm of celestial coordinates is rigorously
defined in terms of mathematics, it is lacking in a common
terminology. There has been an IAU Working Group on Nomenclature
for Fundamental Astronomy, and they are currently fielding a
questionnaire on what names should be applied to the new concepts.
The working group is at
http://syrte.obspm.fr/iauWGnfa/
and the questionnaire at
http://syrte.obspm.fr/iauWGnfa/NFAQuest.html
The responses are wanted this week, but the fact is that it is
difficult to make sense of the proposals without familiarity
with the past 20 years of literature on coordinate systems.
--
Steve Allen UCO/Lick Observatory Santa Cruz, CA 95064
sla_at_ucolick.org Voice: +1 831 459 3046 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla
PGP: 1024/E46978C5 F6 78 D1 10 62 94 8F 2E 49 89 0E FE 26 B4 14 93
Received on Wed Jan 28 2004 - 16:14:05 PST