[LEAPSECS] Mean ... Orbits

[Warner Losh]

On 02/04/2011 07:09, Daniel R. Tobias wrote:

> On 2 Feb 2011 at 22:09, Steve Allen wrote:

>

>> This is not an argument about "mean" but about "meaning".

> So don't get mean about it!  :-)

>

> "That depends on what the meaning of "mean" means!"  (Positively

> Clintonian!)


After reading over the equations of time and the various reference shown 
here (and likely understanding only a small fraction of it), it looks 
like the answer is 'anything you want it to be based on the constants 
you choose' and 'the constants that are universally chosen are based on 
smoothing out the variations over the course of a year, with long term 
trends factored in.'

It looks like it would be possible to define a mean solar time that had 
different averaging characteristics, or tweaked the parameters of the 
model used in either simpler or more complicated ways than Newcomb's 
equations, but nobody has done it (or if they have, it isn't widely 
enough adopted to warrant mentioning in the references people have sent 
to the list).

Now I understand the reluctance to give a simple answer, because the 
answer isn't a simple, single variable.

Warner