[LEAPSECS] the big artillery

[Michael Deckers]

   On 2014-11-04 19:45, Brooks Harris wrote on the history of UTC:

> For purposes of astronomy, and probably others, the "rubber band era" may have
> relevance. To call it "UTC" seems a bit of a stretch to me, but there's no
> generally accepted name for what Zefram calls "rubber-seconds era of UTC".

   An excellent account of the political and technical history of UTC is on
   Steve Allen's page [http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/timescales.html#UTC].
   For instance, it tells us that official use of the term "UTC" dates from 1964.

   The informal term "UTC with rubber seconds" is intended to refer to the time
   when the rates of UTC and TAI differed (before TAI reached 1972-01-01 + 10 s).

   Michael Deckers.