[LEAPSECS] Reliability

[Rob Seaman]

Tony Finch wrote:


> On Thu, 1 Jan 2009, Rob Seaman wrote:

>>

>

>> Mean solar time will outlast artificial clocks and the species that

>> built them by a factor of something like 5,000,000,000 to 50,000.

>

> Not really, because mean solar time is also artificial and can't exist

> without mechanical clocks and telescopes.


And I suppose the refrigerator light goes out when the door is  
closed :-)

Once more from the top, mean solar time is just sidereal time offset  
by a little bit to make up for the Earth lapping the Sun once a year.   
Nowhere does humanity appear in the equation, just the Earth and Sun  
and Stars.

Apparent solar time is derived from mean solar time, not the other way  
around.

Rob