lunartime.org

Organization

National Institute of Standards and Technology

United States metrology institute; its researchers published the relativistic framework for estimating clock rates on the Moon.

At a glance

Every value in this table comes from the entry in our organizations registry; the links below lead to the pages it connects to.
FieldValue
Short nameNIST
TypeNational institute
BasedUnited States
Address we linkwww.nist.gov
TrackerNo track of its own
Documents on this site1 document
Papers on this site1 reading
Facts on this page4, each with its own source

Key facts

  • Neil Ashby and Bijunath Patla of NIST published the relativistic framework in The Astronomical Journal 168:112 on 12 August 2024. [1]
  • Their model value is 56.0199(12) microseconds per day for a clock at rest on the selenoid against an identical clock at rest on the geoid. [1]
  • The institute's news item on the paper states the model figure as about 56 microseconds per day. [2]Official
  • The 2024 White House memorandum names UTC(NIST) as one of the two local approximations of UTC maintained by the United States. [3]Official

In short

NIST supplies the arithmetic the policy documents quote. Two of its researchers published the relativistic framework that gives the rate at which a clock on the lunar selenoid runs against an identical clock on the Earth geoid, and the institute's own news item carries the rounded figure that most coverage repeats. NIST also keeps UTC(NIST), one of the two United States local realizations of UTC named in the 2024 policy memorandum.

Every clock value on this site is a model value computed from published rate figures: no lunar time scale has been realized, and nothing on this page is a reading taken from a clock on the Moon[4]Official. The record itself sits inthe list of organizations, and the wider background is inwhat Coordinated Lunar Time is.

What it decides

  1. The published model rate between a lunar surface clock and an Earth surface clock, and its stated uncertainty.
  2. How a United States realization of UTC would anchor traceability for a lunar scale.
  3. Which relativistic terms a lunar scale has to carry to be usable for navigation.

Where this record connects

Documents

Papers we have read

Other organizations

Sources

  1. A Relativistic Framework to Estimate Clock Rates on the Moon — Neil Ashby and Bijunath R. Patla, NIST — The Astronomical Journal 168:112, . Peer-reviewed. Verified .
  2. What Time Is It on the Moon? — National Institute of Standards and Technology, . Official document. Verified .
  3. Policy on Celestial Time Standardization — White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, . Official document. Verified .
  4. Resolution on the establishment of a coordinated lunar time standard by international agreement — International Astronomical Union, Commission A3 — XXXII General Assembly, . Official document. Verified .
  5. A Relativistic Framework to Estimate Clock Rates on the Moon (NIST copy) — NIST Time and Frequency Division, . Official document. Verified .

Last verified