Leap second tonight

Wed Dec 31 23:45:48 UTC 2008

     INTERNATIONAL EARTH ROTATION AND REFERENCE SYSTEMS SERVICE (IERS) 

SERVICE INTERNATIONAL DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE ET DES SYSTEMES DE REFERENCE

SERVICE DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE
OBSERVATOIRE DE PARIS                                   
61, Av. de l'Observatoire 75014 PARIS (France)
Tel.      : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 26
FAX       : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 91
e-mail    : services.iers at obspm.fr
http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc

                                              Paris, 4 July 2008

                                              Bulletin C 36

                                              To authorities responsible 
					      for the measurement and 
					      distribution of time                                         

                                   UTC TIME STEP
                            on the 1st of January 2009

 A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of December 2008.
 The sequence of dates of the UTC second markers will be:		

                          2008 December 31,     23h 59m 59s
                          2008 December 31,     23h 59m 60s
                          2009 January   1,      0h  0m  0s

 The difference between UTC and the International Atomic Time TAI is:

  from 2006 January 1, 0h UTC, to 2009 January 1  0h UTC  : UTC-TAI = - 33s
  from 2009 January 1, 0h UTC, until further notice       : UTC-TAI = - 34s 

 Leap seconds can be introduced in UTC at the end of the months of December 
 or June, depending on the evolution of UT1-TAI. Bulletin C is mailed every 
 six months, either to announce a time step in UTC or to confirm that there 
 will be no time step at the next possible date.

                                              Daniel GAMBIS
                                              Head		
                                              Earth Orientation Center of IERS
					      Observatoire de Paris, France