Leap Seconds – Time and Standards
December 31st, 2008Posted by: admin
A quick note to help close out 2008. Standards for time have been around since at least the establishment of time zones in the 19th century, and are another form of policy. In this case the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is responsible for the Universal Time Scale (H/T Scientific American’s 60-Second Science blog). I bring this up primarily to note the addition of a leap second later today, just before midnight Universal Time (or just before 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time). Learn more from the official U.S. Naval Observatory press release.