New Delhi: A 'leap second' was added to the Indian clock at 5:29.59 hours today to synchronise with the Earth's rotational clock. As the atomic clock at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi struck 23:59:59 last night, it was programmed to add an extra second to 2017 to compensate for a slowdown in the Earth's rotation.
Adding a second barely has an impact on the daily life, but it does matter in the fields of satellite navigation, astronomy and communication.
"The Earth and rotation around its own axis is not regular, as sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down, due to various factors including earthquakes and moon's gravitational forces that often results in ocean tides. As a result, astronomical time (UT1) gradually falls out of sync with atomic time (UTC), and as and when the difference between UTC and UT1 approaches 0.9 seconds, a leap second is added to UTC through atomic clocks worldwide," D K Aswal, Director NPL said.
Atomic clocks are so precise that the margin of error in its functioning is just of a second in 100 million years.
DK Aswal said the Indian atomic clock was also synchronised with the atomic clock of International Bureau of Weight and Measure (BIPM), France.
Those utilising CSIR-NPL time dissemination services need not worry as they will receive the corrected time post the insertion of the leap second, DK Aswal said.
Adding a second barely has an impact on the daily life, but it does matter in the fields of satellite navigation, astronomy and communication.
"The Earth and rotation around its own axis is not regular, as sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down, due to various factors including earthquakes and moon's gravitational forces that often results in ocean tides. As a result, astronomical time (UT1) gradually falls out of sync with atomic time (UTC), and as and when the difference between UTC and UT1 approaches 0.9 seconds, a leap second is added to UTC through atomic clocks worldwide," D K Aswal, Director NPL said.
Atomic clocks are so precise that the margin of error in its functioning is just of a second in 100 million years.
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DK Aswal said the Indian atomic clock was also synchronised with the atomic clock of International Bureau of Weight and Measure (BIPM), France.
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Those utilising CSIR-NPL time dissemination services need not worry as they will receive the corrected time post the insertion of the leap second, DK Aswal said.
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