Barycentric Dynamical Time

Barycentric Dynamical Time (TDB, from the French Temps Dynamique Barycentrique) is a relativistic coordinate time scale, intended for astronomical use as a time standard to take account of time dilation[1] when calculating orbits and astronomical ephemerides of planets, asteroids, comets and interplanetary spacecraft in the Solar System. TDB is now (since 2006) defined as a linear scaling of Barycentric Coordinate Time (TCB). A feature that distinguishes TDB from TCB is that TDB, when observed from the Earth's surface, has a difference from Terrestrial Time (TT) that is about as small as can be practically arranged with consistent definition: the differences are mainly periodic,[2] and overall will remain at less than 2 milliseconds for several millennia.[3]

TDB applies to the Solar-System-barycentric reference frame, and was first defined in 1976 as a successor to the (non-relativistic) former standard of ephemeris time (adopted by the IAU in 1952 and superseded 1976). In 2006, after a history of multiple time-scale definitions and deprecations since the 1970s,[4] a redefinition of TDB was approved by the IAU. The 2006 IAU redefinition of TDB as an international standard expressly acknowledged that the long-established JPL ephemeris time argument Teph, as implemented in JPL Development Ephemeris DE405, "is for practical purposes the same as TDB defined in this Resolution".[5] (By 2006, ephemeris DE405 had already been in use for a few years as the official basis for planetary and lunar ephemerides in the Astronomical Almanac; it was the basis for editions for 2003 through 2014; in the edition for 2015 it was superseded by DE430.[6])

  1. ^ Explanations given with (a) IAU resolutions 1991, under Resolution A.4, at 'Notes for recommendation III', and IAU 2006 resolution 3, and its footnotes; and (b) explanations and references cited at "Time dilation -- due to gravitation and motion together".
  2. ^ The periodic differences, due to relativistic effects, between a coordinate time scale applicable to the Solar-System barycenter, and time measured at the Earth's surface, were first estimated and are explained in: G M Clemence & V Szebehely, "Annual variation of an atomic clock", Astronomical Journal, Vol.72 (1967), p.1324-6.
  3. ^ IAU 2006 resolution 3, see Recommendation and footnotes, note 3.
  4. ^ (a)P K Seidelmann & T Fukushima (1992), "Why new time scales?", Astronomy & Astrophysics vol.265 (1992), pages 833-838: and (b) IAU resolution (1991) A.4(recommendation V), which recommended limiting the use of TDB (previously defined 1976-79) to cases "where discontinuity with previous work is deemed to be undesirable".
  5. ^ IAU 2006 resolution 3, see footnotes, note 4.
  6. ^ See US Naval Observatory (Naval Oceanography Portal), "History of the Astronomical Almanac" Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine (accessed October 2015); also, for details of DE405: E. M. Standish (1998), JPL Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides, DE405/LE405, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Interoffice Memorandum 312F-98-48, August 26, 1998; also, the Astronomical Almanac for 2015 commences use of the more recent JPL ephemeris version DE430, which is now based expressly on TDB, see section L, especially page L-4 Astronomical Almanac for 2015, page L-4 (accessed October 2015).