Re: [LEAPSECS] MJD and leap seconds

From: Peter Bunclark <psb_at_ast.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 11:53:59 +0000 (GMT)

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006, Tom Van Baak wrote:
> have no leap seconds. Astronomers appear to avoid
> using MJD altogether.

Good grief. MJD is used widely in astronomy, for example in variablility
studies where you want a real number to represent time rather than deal
with the complications of parsing a date. It tends to be written into the
FITS header of practically every data file observed.

Pete.
Received on Tue Jan 10 2006 - 03:54:31 PST