Mike wrote
> Assume someone chasing eclipses in the middle of the desert is an
> "average person," as you have. Exact same scenario, but the program
> was created 7 years prior to show all such events during the next
> century. Because of the unreliable nature of the quadratic equations
> which at
Mike,
Since you have asked me to extrapolate the leap second question to leap
days, allow me to do the same. Would you settle for a system whereby you
had to wait on some scientists' verdict before finding out if your next
birthday was going to be on a Sunday or on a Monday?
> It wasn't clear you
Those of you on the LEAPSECS mailing list will aready have seen this,
but I think its worth a read -
http://www.startribune.com/stories/404/5508732.html
I'm responding to Rob and Mike in this email.
First, Rob said
> And if your software reports eclipses later than 2007, it may need to
> be up
time - since
> rare events are harder to handle or to test, make them occur more
> frequently:
>
> http://iraf.noao.edu/~seaman/leap
So I may have to update my eclipse-predicting program within a month of
the eclipse? I don't think so.
> Chris (O'Byrne?) says:
Surely the way to look at the timescales and leap second issues are to
look at the requirements and go from there.
It seems to me that there are two basic requirements. Scientists of
various colours need a regular timescale, and are not particularly
concerned if the sun is above or below the horiz
