[LEAPSECS] final report of the UK leap seconds dialog

[Rob Seaman]

On Feb 5, 2015, at 2:55 AM, Peter Vince <petervince1952 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Watching the video interviews on that site, with the members of the public, I was disappointed that most of them seemed unaware of any technical problems the leap-seconds cause.

They also ignored technical problems that would be caused by redefining UTC to no longer function as Universal Time:

	http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/futureofutc/2011/preprints/36_AAS_11-677_Seaman.pdf

Contrary to assertions, changing the definition of UTC would be very expensive, risky and time-consuming in astronomy, astronautics and other communities.

There are many more options than the ITU has yet considered:

	http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/futureofutc/2011/preprints/01_AAS_11-660.pdf

In particular, ceasing leap seconds in the broadcast timescale does not require redefining UTC.

Rob Seaman
National Optical Astronomy Observatory

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