WP 34S conversion error

[walter b]

(10-09-2014 09:37 PM)Paul Dale Wrote:  As is documented in the manual, the 34S uses the NIST definitions for units where ever possible:
http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html#LENGTH

I guess the IAU and NIST disagree here

Footnote 18 on that NIST site reads: "This conversion factor is based on 1 d = 86 400 s; and 1 Julian century = 36 525 d. (See The Astronomical Almanac for the Year 1995, page K6, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1994)." So let's see:

299 792 458 m/s * 24 h/d * 3600 s/h * 365.25 d/y = 9.4607304725808e15 m/y

So IAU and NIST agree, though NIST didn't print all the digits. In consequence, I'd vote for setting the conversion factor to the exact value.

(This definition is not consistent with the length of a year being 365.2425 days. But there are even more definitions of a year...)

d:-)

Edited to complete the output unit.