[LEAPSECS] Time on time

[Steve Allen]

On Wed 2011-11-30T17:11:38 +0000, Tony Finch hath writ:

> Daniel R. Tobias <dan at tobias.name> wrote:

> > Speaking of time, what sort of time is the Long Now clock keeping,

> > anyway?  Solar, atomic, or something else entirely?

>

> Solar time. It has a mechanism for detecting local noon to keep the clock

> in sync.


There are several kinds of time in the mechanism.  In particular, it
has an orrery which will indicate planetary motions.

With a designed resolution of 5 minutes and its expected lifetime the
differences between any forms of "uniform time" (Ephemeris Time,
Terrestrial Time, Atomic Time) are irrelevant, and the difference
between mean solar time and the more uniform time scales can be
predicted well enough for its indicators.

As Rob mentioned, read the preprint at futureofutc.org

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