Re: Please report in UT

From: Stephen Tonkin (news05footfrommouth_at_astunit.com)
Date: 08/14/04 

Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 06:46:11 +0100

Paul Lawler <stargazer@kilolaniDOT.net> wrote:
>That's fine if you live within a couple of hours of UT, but you have to
>admit it sounds a little silly (actually a lot silly) in an observing
>report to say, "I started observing at 9am but the best objects were
>not visible until 11 am when the sky was really dark."

Straw man: no-one is suggesting that people should do that. What is
being suggested is that people state "I began observing at 09:00 UT..."
etc.

What everyone seems to be losing sight of is that astronomy (like this
newsgroup) is an *international* activity; it therefore makes sense to
use an international time format. UT is the agreed standard time "zone"
for astronomers, so it makes sense to conform to that when reporting
obs, etc. We have already had it demonstrated how e.g. CST can mean
something entirely different to an American and an Australian.

If someone suggested that we used Julian Day numbers or GMAT, I could
understand the reluctance to comply. Similarly, if someone objected to
local time being used on a "national" newsgroup, such as
de.sci.astronomie, fr.sci.astronomie, it.scienza.astronomia or
uk.sci.astronomy, the reluctance to comply might be understandable, but
to fight against using an internationally agreed standard on an
international newsgroup smacks (to me) of obstructionism. YMMV.

Best,
Stephen

Remove footfrommouth to reply 

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