Book contents
- Time: From Earth Rotation to Atomic Physics
- Time: From Earth Rotation to Atomic Physics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Time Before the 20th Century
- 2 Time from the Earth’s Rotation
- 3 Ephemerides
- 4 Variable Earth Rotation
- 5 Earth Orientation
- 6 Ephemeris Time
- 7 Relativity and Time
- 8 Time and Cosmology
- 9 Dynamical and Coordinate Timescales
- 10 Clock Developments
- 11 Microwave Atomic Clocks
- 12 Optical Atomic Standards
- 13 Definition and Role of a Second
- 14 International Atomic Time (TAI)
- 15 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
- 16 Time in the Solar System
- 17 Time and Frequency Transfer
- 18 Modern Earth Orientation
- 19 International Activities
- 20 Time Applications
- 21 Future of Timekeeping
- Acronyms
- Glossary
- Index
- References
16 - Time in the Solar System
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2018
Book contents
- Time: From Earth Rotation to Atomic Physics
- Time: From Earth Rotation to Atomic Physics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Time Before the 20th Century
- 2 Time from the Earth’s Rotation
- 3 Ephemerides
- 4 Variable Earth Rotation
- 5 Earth Orientation
- 6 Ephemeris Time
- 7 Relativity and Time
- 8 Time and Cosmology
- 9 Dynamical and Coordinate Timescales
- 10 Clock Developments
- 11 Microwave Atomic Clocks
- 12 Optical Atomic Standards
- 13 Definition and Role of a Second
- 14 International Atomic Time (TAI)
- 15 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
- 16 Time in the Solar System
- 17 Time and Frequency Transfer
- 18 Modern Earth Orientation
- 19 International Activities
- 20 Time Applications
- 21 Future of Timekeeping
- Acronyms
- Glossary
- Index
- References
Summary
The solar system is composed of bodies whose positions are observed and analyzed in a four-dimensional relativistic reference system. A uniform and accurate timescale is a critical part of the description of solar system phenomena. Eclipses, occultations, transits, Sunrises and Sunsets, and Moonrises and Moonsets are observed and predicted based on solar system dynamics. The intervals between equinoxes and solstices have different periods, whose average is the length of the tropical year, which is the time for the Sun’s mean longitude to increase by 360 degrees. The accurate knowledge of the SI second led to the definition of the meter based on the speed of light and the second, thus providing the distance scale for the solar system. Radar and laser ranging systems use timing to measure precise distances. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) use time signals to determine positions and distribute time. Space missions use the Doppler effect and measured time delays to determine satellite and planetary probe positions. Proper time on solar system objects can be modeled based on dynamics. Possible future use of pulsars and white dwarfs for independent timekeeping requires very accurate knowledge of the motion of the Earth with respect to distant objects.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Time: From Earth Rotation to Atomic Physics , pp. 262 - 277Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
References
Comptes Rendus de la 15e CGPM (1975), 1976, 104, available at www1.bipm.org/en/convention/cgpm/resolutions.html.Google Scholar
Currie, D. (2014). A Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector Array for the 21st Century: Review of the History, Science, Status and Future. ESPC Abstracts, 9, ESPC2014-632-2, 2014.Google Scholar
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac (1992). Seidelmann, P. Kenneth, editor. Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books.Google Scholar
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac (2012). Urban, Sean E. and Seidelmann, P. Kenneth, editors. Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books.Google Scholar
Hobbs, G., Coles, W., Manchester, R. N., Keith, M. J., Shannon, R. M., Chen, D., Bailes, M., Bhat, D. R., Burke-Spolaor, S., Champion, D., Chaudhary, A., Hotan, A., Khoo, J., Kocz, J. Levin, Y., Oslowski, S., Preisig, B., Ravi, V., Reynolds, J. E., Sarkissian, J., van Straten, W., Verbiest, J. P. W., Yardley, D., & You, X. P. (2012). Development of a pulsar-based timescale. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 427, 2780–2787.Google Scholar
Isern, J., Althaus, L., Catalan, S., et al. (2012). White dwarfs as physics laboratories: The case of axions. 8th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPS and WISPS. Chicago and Fermilab. Online at http://axion-wimp2012.desy.de/, id.37.Google Scholar
Kepler, S. O. (2012). White Dwarf Stars: Pulsations and Magnetism. In Shibahashi, H., Takata, M., & Lynas-Gray, A. E., eds., 61st Fujihara Seminar: Progress in Solar/Stellar Physics with Helio- and Asteroseismology, ASP Conference Series, 462. San Francisco, CA: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, pp. 322–325.Google Scholar
Kepler, S. O., Mukadam, A., Winget, D. E., Nather, R. E., Metcalfe, T. S., Reed, M. D., Kawaler, S. D., & Bradley, P. A. (2000). Evolutionary Timescale of the Pulsating White Dwarf G117-b15a: The Most Stable Optical Clock Known. Astron. J., 534, L185–L188.Google Scholar
Laskar, J. (1986). Secular Terms of Classical Planetary Theories Using the Results of General Relativity. Astron. Astrophys., 157, 59–70.Google Scholar
Manchester, R. N. (2008). The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Project. In 40 YEARS OF PULSARS: Millisecond Pulsars, Magnetars and More. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 983, 584–592.Google Scholar
Manchester, R. N. & Hobbs, G. (2012). Pulsar Timing and a Pulsar-Based Timescale. Proceedings of the Journees 2011 “Systemes de reference spatio-temporels (JSR2011: Earth Rotation, Reference Systems and Celestial Mechanics: Synergies of Geodesy and Astronomy.” Schuh, H., Boehm, S., Nilsson, T., and Capitaine, N., editors. Vienna: Vienna University of Technology.Google Scholar
Meuus, J. & Savoie, D. (1992). The History of the Tropical Year. J. of British Astronomical Association, 102, 40–42.Google Scholar
Murphy, T. W. (2013). Lunar Laser Ranging: The Millimeter Challenge. Reports on Progress in Physics, 76, 076901.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, R. A. (2006). Relativistic Transformations for Time Synchronization and Dissemination in the Solar System. International Astronomical Union XXVIth General Assembly.Google Scholar
Stephenson, F. R., Morrison, L. V., & Hohenkerk, C. Y. (2016). Measurement of the Earth’s Rotation: 720 BC to AD 2015. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 472, 2016.0404.Google ScholarPubMed
Viswanathan, V., Fienga, A., Manche, H., et al. (2016). Impact of Infrared Laser Ranging on Lunar Dynamics. AAS DPS Meeting 48, id#109.02.Google Scholar
Williams, J. G. & Boggs, D. H. (2016). Secular Tidal Changes in Lunar Orbit and Earth Rotation. Celest. Mech. & Dyn. Astron. 126, 89–129.Google Scholar