 |
||||
Lab Activities
Fun And Educational  |
|
|||
| Welcome to the Craig Research Labs Time Page. This page is intended as a convenience for anyone who needs to know the time to a reasonable degree of accuracy. Due to the nature of the Internet and the time delays associated with the loading of web pages, no time signal sent to your browser can ever be completely accurate. But I would be willing to wager that the time information displayed on this page is more accurate than that on your wristwatch (when was the last time you reset your wrist watch anyway?), and as accurate as any you will find on the Internet. |
|
Note: much of the information on this page has been taken directly from various public domain US Naval Observatory web pages, however, I have extensively reformatted and condensed it for purposes of brevity and utility. In my opinion, a truly useful time page for the average user requires that all of this information be easily accessible in one place.
US Naval Observatory Master Clock Time
Here is the current time from the US Naval Observatory Master Clock:
Click
here to view the current time.
*Important Note*: When you click on this link you will be leaving our pages. You MUST hit the "reload" button on your browser to update the time, and the "Back" button to return to this page.
To learn more about how the US Naval Observatory Master Clock functions (it's a fascinating read) please click here to visit the US Naval Observatory Time Service homepage.
What is Coordinated Universal Time?
In the most commonly encountered usage, Coordinated Universal Time (abbreviated UTC) is the basis for the worldwide system of civil time. UTC is of particular importance to the astronomical community, where times are almost always given in the 24 hour UTC format. UTC is roughly (but not always precisely) equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Atlantic Standard Time: subtract 4 hours from UTC
Eastern Daylight Time: subtract 4 hours from UTC
Eastern Standard Time: subtract 5 hours from UTC
Central Daylight Time: subtract 5 hours from UTC
Central Standard Time: subtract 6 hours from UTC
Mountain Daylight Time: subtract 6 hours from UTC
Mountain Standard Time: subtract 7 hours from UTC
Pacific Daylight Time: subtract 7 hours from UTC
Pacific Standard Time: subtract 8 hours from UTC
Alaska Daylight Time: subtract 8 hours from UTC
Alaska Standard Time: subtract 9 hours from UTC
Hawaii-Aleutian Daylight Time: subtract 9 hours from UTC
Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time: subtract 10 hours from UTC
Samoa Standard Time: subtract 11 hours from UTC
Thus, 11:00 UTC is the same as 5:00 CST. When converting zone time to or from UTC, dates must be properly taken into account. For example, 10 March at 02:00 UTC is the same as 9 March at 21:00 EST. The table can also be used to determine the difference between the time observed in any two zones. For example, the table shows that Eastern Standard Time is three hours "ahead" of Pacific Standard Time.
About Daylight Savings Time
"Spring ahead, fall back."
Daylight time begins in the United States on the first Sunday in April and ends on the last Sunday in October. On the first Sunday in April, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the last Sunday in October, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time.
Not all places in the U.S. observe daylight time. In particular, Arizona, Hawaii, and most of Indiana do not use it. Also, many foreign countries use completely different versions of Daylight ("or Summer") time.
Accurate Time Signals
It is beyond the scope of this web page to provide highly accurate time signals for critical applications. However, accurate time signals can be obtained from a variety of sources, including Global Positioning System satellites, and stations WWV and WWVH and WWVB on shortwave radio. If you are looking for highly accurate time signals, please visit The US Naval Observatory Time Service homepage, or the NIST Time and Frequency Division.
Time Trivia
Clocks run more slowly in a strong gravitational field than they do in a weak gravitational field. Since (most of the time) your feet are closer to the center of mass of the Earth than your head is, it is actually a subtly different time in your shoes than it is in your hat. And when you die, your head will be "older" than your feet. Interesting, huh? Now visit our Physics page and learn about Einstein's General Theory Of Relativity to find out why this is so.
|
|