Re: CHAT: Timezones was The English/French counting system

I've had experience of this in the astronomy field. I am used to reporting
observations in GMAT (Greenwich Mean Astronomical Time, which begins at
midday) in conjunction with the Julian Day, since generally astronomers are
interested in time differences rather than calendar dates - for instance,
it's easier to derive the period of a variable star if its maxima are
separated by (say) 115 days as opposed to one maximum on April 12th and the
next on July 20th - I hope that's about 115 days, I haven't worked it out!
But now the organisation to which I report observations has changed its
report software to UT (Universal Time, which starts at midnight). The
consequence of this is that observations made after midnight have to be
entered as a different day, even though they are in the same observing run
as those made before midnight. Grrr!
Mike
This can lead to confusion when dealing with
> > historical records, particulary astronomical ones (astronomers being
> > wont to prefer that the date change at noon rather than in the middle of
> > their worknight).


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