Ephemeris Time
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Ephemeris Time
</dt>
The uniform measure of time defined by the laws of dynamics and determined
in principle from the orbital motions of the planets, specifically the orbital
motion of the earth as represented by Newcomb's Tables of the Sun. Compare universal
time.
</dd>
Beginning with the volume for 1960 the American Ephemeris and Nautical
Almanac uses ephemeris time as the tabular argument in the fundamental
ephemerides of the sun, moon, and planets.
A gravitational ephemeris
expresses the position of a celestial body as a function of ephemeris time;
and, at any instant, the measure of ephemeris time is the value of the
argument at which the ephemeris position is the same as the actual position at
the instant. The ephemeris time at any instant is obtained from observation by
directly comparing observed position of the sun, moon, and planets with
gravitational ephemerides of their coordinates; observations of the moon are
the most effective and expeditious for this purpose. An accurate
determination, however, requires observations over a more or less extended
period; in practice, it takes the form of determining the time correction Missing Image:img src="SP7-e_files/deltabg.gif"T that must be applied to universal time
(U.T.) to obtain ephemeris time:
universal time at any instant may be obtained with little delay from
observations of the dirunal motions.
The fundamental epoch from which
ephemeris time is reckoned is the epoch that Newcomb designated as 1900
January 0, Greenwich mean noon, but which actually is 1900 January 0 day 12
hours E.T.; the instant to which this designation is assigned is the instant
near the beginning of the calendar year A.D. 1900 when the geometric mean
longitude of the Sun referred to the mean equinox of data was 279 degrees 41
minutes 48.04 seconds. Ephemeris time is the measure of time in which
Newcomb's Tables of the Sun agree with observation.
The primary unit of
ephemeris time is the tropical year, defined by the mean motion of the sun in
longitude at the epoch 1900 January 0 day 12 hours E.T.; its length in
ephemeris days is determined by the coefficient of T in Newcomb's
expression for the geometric mean longitude of the sun L referred to
the mean equinox of date, given among the elements of the sun. [[/a>|/a>
]]
References
This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use
