| Re: Julian Day Question [message #48870 is a reply to message #48869] |
Fri, 26 May 2006 09:53   |
news.qwest.net
Messages: 137
Registered: September 2005
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Senior Member |
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> JULDAY(5,26,2006, 0,0,0)
> JULDAY(5,26,2006)
My 2cents, to quote buffy, "It doesn't matter".
I always start with a modern date string, then convert
to JD to do all the processing, etc, and then convert
back to strings for output/ plotting etc. What the
dates convert to doesn't matter, as long as one is consistent
(i always input hours minutes and seconds.)
It seems to me the "problem" is between an integer day, and
a much more precise millisecond representation.
If someone asks what day number today is (of this month)
people will say the 26th. No one will say the 26.4486th.
However, if someone wants the exact time of this post, then
you would say it was posted on May 26.4486th MT.
I do admit though, that knowing that the julian day is actually
noon twelve hours earlier is a nice little secret to have.
Anyways, the conclusion should be:
always be consistent
(simply saying "be consistent" doesn't seem redundant enough)
Cheers,
bob
PS I'd put an n_params() check on the
julday function wrapper if I were me (to ensure
hours minutes and seconds were always passed).
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