On the eve of the 100th anniversary of IAU Commission 19/A2 “Rotation of the Earth”

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.IAU Commission 19 began in 1919 with the birth of the IAU at the Brussels Conference, where Standing Committee 19 on Latitude Variations was established as one of 32 standing committees. At the first IAU General Assembly in 1922, Standing Committee 19 became Commission 19 “Variation of Latitude”. In the beginning, the main topic of the Commission was the investigation of polar motion. Later, its activities included observations and theory of Earth rotation and connections between Earth orientation variations and geophysical phenomena. As a result, in 1964 at the XII IAU General Assembly, the Commission was renamed “Rotation of the Earth”. The investigation of Earth orientation variations is primarily based on observations of natural and artificial celestial objects. Therefore, maintenance of the international terrestrial and celestial reference frames, as well as the coordinate transformation between the frames and the improvement of the model of precession/nutation, have always been among the primary Commission topics. In 1987, the IAU through Commissions 19 and 31 “Time” established, jointly with the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, what is now known as the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service. Commission 19 continued to work to develop methods to improve the accuracy and understanding of Earth orientation variations and related reference systems and frames as well as theoretical studies of Earth rotation. In 2015, Commission 19 was renewed as Commission A2 “Rotation of the Earth” continuing Commission 19’s functions and linking the astronomical community to other scientific organizations such as the International Association of Geodesy, International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry, International GNSS Service, International Laser Ranging Service and International DORIS Service. During its entire history, IAU Commission 19/A2 has always worked in close cooperation with these and other related services to improve the accuracy and consistency of the Earth orientation parameters and celestial and terrestrial reference frames

NOMINAL VALUES FOR SELECTED SOLAR AND PLANETARY QUANTITIES: IAU 2015 RESOLUTION B3

In this brief communication we provide the rationale for and the outcome of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) resolution vote at the XXIXth General Assembly in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2015, on recommended nominal conversion constants for selected solar and planetary properties. The problem addressed by the resolution is a lack of established conversion constants between solar and planetary values and SI units: a missing standard has caused a proliferation of solar values (e.g., solar radius, solar irradiance, solar luminosity, solar effective temperature, and solar mass parameter) in the literature, with cited solar values typically based on best estimates at the time of paper writing. As precision of observations increases, a set of consistent values becomes increasingly important. To address this, an IAU Working Group on Nominal Units for Stellar and Planetary Astronomy formed in 2011, uniting experts from the solar, stellar, planetary, exoplanetary, and fundamental astronomy, as well as from general standards fields to converge on optimal values for nominal conversion constants. The effort resulted in the IAU 2015 Resolution B3, passed at the IAU General Assembly by a large majority. The resolution recommends the use of nominal solar and planetary values, which are by definition exact and are expressed in SI units. These nominal values should be understood as conversion factors only, not as the true solar/planetary properties or current best estimates. Authors and journal editors are urged to join in using the standard values set forth by this resolution in future work and publications to help minimize further confusion

Historique de la connaissance de la rotation de la Terre de l'Antiquité à l'an 2000; Transformation entre systèmes de référence terrestre et céleste: rotation et déformation de la Terre ; La rotation de la Terre

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Historique de la connaissance de la rotation de la Terre de l'Antiquité à l'an 2000; Transformation entre systèmes de référence terrestre et céleste: rotation et déformation de la Terre ; La rotation de la Terre

National audienc

Models and nomenclature in Earth rotation

International audienceThe celestial Earth's orientation is required for many applications in fundamental astronomy and geodesy; it is currently determined with sub-milliarcsecond accuracy by astro-geodetic observations. Models for that orientation rely on solutions for the rotation of a rigid Earth model and on the geophysical representation of non-rigid Earth effects. Important IAU 2000/2006 resolutions on reference systems have been passed (and endorsed by the IUGG) that recommend a new paradigm and high accuracy models to be used in the transformation from terrestrial to celestial systems. This paper reviews the consequences of these resolutions on the adopted Earth orientation parameters, IAU precession-nutation models and associated nomenclature. It summarizes the fundamental aspects of the current IAU precession-nutation models and reports on the consideration of General Relativity (GR) in the solutions. This shows that the current definitions and nomenclature for Earth's rotation are compliant with GR and that the IAU precession-nutation is compliant with the IAU 2000 definition of the geocentric celestial reference system in the GR framework; however, the underlying Earth's rotation models basically are Newtonian

The Determination of Earth Orientation by VLBI and GNSS: Principles and Results

International audienceThe Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) connect the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) to the Geocentric Celestial Reference System (GCRS). These parameters, i.e., Universal Time, UT1, and pole coordinates in the ITRS and in the GCRS, describe the irregularities of the Earth's rotation. They are mainly determined by two modern astro-geodetic techniques, VLBI (Very Long Baseline Radio Interferometry) on extragalactic radio sources, which is used to realize and maintain the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS), and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), especially GPS (Global Positioning System), which has an important contribution to the realization of the ITRS. The aim of this presentation is twofold: to present the modern bases for the consideration of Earth orientation and to discuss how the principles of VLBI and GPS give access to the measure of different components of the EOP variations, especially UT1. The accuracy that can be achieved is based on the improved concepts, definitions, and models that have been adopted by IAU/IUGG resolutions on reference systems and Earth's rotation, as well as on the refined strategy of the observations

Models and nomenclature in Earth rotation

International audienceThe celestial Earth's orientation is required for many applications in fundamental astronomy and geodesy; it is currently determined with sub-milliarcsecond accuracy by astro-geodetic observations. Models for that orientation rely on solutions for the rotation of a rigid Earth model and on the geophysical representation of non-rigid Earth effects. Important IAU 2000/2006 resolutions on reference systems have been passed (and endorsed by the IUGG) that recommend a new paradigm and high accuracy models to be used in the transformation from terrestrial to celestial systems. This paper reviews the consequences of these resolutions on the adopted Earth orientation parameters, IAU precession-nutation models and associated nomenclature. It summarizes the fundamental aspects of the current IAU precession-nutation models and reports on the consideration of General Relativity (GR) in the solutions. This shows that the current definitions and nomenclature for Earth's rotation are compliant with GR and that the IAU precession-nutation is compliant with the IAU 2000 definition of the geocentric celestial reference system in the GR framework; however, the underlying Earth's rotation models basically are Newtonian

Micro-arcsecond Celestial Reference Frames: definition and realization — Impact of the recent IAU Resolutions

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