Abstract
The systems of units, co-ordinates and time-scales that are currently in use in dynamical astronomy are reviewed, and attention is drawn to the needs for simplification and clarification, and for explicit statements of the relationships between astronomical and SI units. It is concluded that ephemeris time, as it is currently defined, does not provide a satisfactory time scale for use in dynamical astronomy. It is recommended that the astronomical unit of time should be one day of 86400 SI seconds.
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© 1973 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland
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Wilkins, G.A. (1973). Astronomical Systems of Units, Co-Ordinates and Time-Scales. In: Tapley, B.D., Szebehely, V. (eds) Recent Advances in Dynamical Astronomy. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2611-6_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2611-6_29
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-2613-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-2611-6
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