Coordinated Universal Time
The UTC is acronym for "Coordinated Universal Time".
The times of various events, particularly astronomical and weather
phenomena, are often given in "Universal Time" (abbreviated UT) which
is sometimes referred to, now colloquially, as "Greenwich Mean Time"
(abbreviated GMT). The two terms are often used loosely to refer to
time kept on the Greenwich meridian (longitude zero)
However, in the most common civil usage, UT refers to a time scale called
"Coordinated Universal Time" (abbreviated UTC), which is the basis for the
worldwide system of civil time. This time scale is kept by time laboratories
around the world, including the U.S. Naval Observatory, and is determined
using highly precise atomic clocks. The International Bureau of Weights and
Measures makes use of data from the timing laboratories to provide the
international standard UTC which is accurate to approximately a nanosecond
(billionth of a second) per day. The length of a UTC second is defined in
terms of an atomic transition of the element cesium under specific
conditions, and is not directly related to any astronomical phenomena.
UTC is equivalent to the civil time for Iceland, Liberia, Morocco, Senegal,
Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, and several other countries. During the winter
months, UTC is also the civil time scale for the United Kingdom and
Ireland.
Why is UTC used as the acronym for Coordinated Universal Time instead of
CUT?
In 1970 the Coordinated Universal Time system was devised by an
international advisory group of technical experts within the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU felt it was best to designate a
single abbreviation for use in all languages in order to minimize confusion.
Since unanimous agreement could not be achieved on using either the English
word order, CUT, or the French word order, TUC, the acronym UTC was chosen
as a compromise.
How I can watch the UTC time?
There is a lot of clocks that can help you. And, certainly, our
AlphaClock also allow this.
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