Re: freebsd-current Digest, Vol 127, Issue 4

From: John-Mark Gurney <gurney_j_at_resnet.uoregon.edu>
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 15:46:38 -0800
Carlos Amengual wrote this message on Tue, Jan 03, 2006 at 22:11 +0100:
> You are missing the sextants, and their users, which would be much more 
> complicated to "fix" than those telescopes. If leap seconds are dropped, 
> ships and planes are going to notice it sooner or later.

Having talked with a sextant user... leap seconds don't matter to
sextant users...  They have a book of times and possitions, and the
book is only good for a year or two... so needs to be reprinted, and
on reprints, they can take care of the leap second issue...

A second wrt sextants on the surface of the earth is about a quarter
of a mile, and the rest of the reading is less precise than that, so
even if you are a second off, you won't be that much further off course..

so, the only fix for a sextant is a new table of numbers...  don't
forget the tables HAVE to be updated for precisely the reason leap
seconds are inserted...

-- 
  John-Mark Gurney				Voice: +1 415 225 5579

     "All that I will do, has been done, All that I have, has not."
Received on Tue Jan 03 2006 - 22:49:22 UTC

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