Re: [LEAPSECS] The real problem with leap seconds

From: Mark Calabretta <mcalabre_at_ATNF.CSIRO.AU>
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 11:48:47 +1100

On Fri 2006/01/13 11:45:13 -0000, Ed Davies wrote
in a message to: LEAPSECS_at_ROM.USNO.NAVY.MIL

>If you don't count the leap seconds then the good news is that
>days are all 86 400 seconds long but the bad news is that the
>real is undefined during the leap second and there's a
>discontinuity (or rather, a surprising continuity in that
>at some point it's 23:59:59.999999.... and a whole second and
>a tiny bit later it's 00:00:00.0000....).

Agreed. I would add that two occasions when you would do this is in
computing UT1 and time_t.

>The use of the 23:59:60 notation is described in ISO 8601.
>Is it also specified in TF.460? If so, how do they relate
>it to the notion of DTAI?

In practice, refer to the example I gave on Jan/12.

Mark Calabretta
ATNF
Received on Sun Jan 15 2006 - 16:49:17 PST