AN OPEN LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION

Uwe Homann
RR1, Site 19, C2
Peers, Alberta
T0E 1W0
Canada

February 12, 2000

General Secretary,
International Astronomical Union
98bis, Bld. Arago,
F-75014 Paris
France

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION

With this letter I must bring a very serious matter to the attention of the International Astronomical Union, its members and to the entire scientific community - a matter which demands a thorough investigation.

At issue is the physical time interval of a so-called sidereal year, said to be the truest measure of earth's complete period of revolution around the sun relative to inertial space.

The claim that such a sidereal year consists of about 31,558,149.8 seconds (or about 365.256361 mean solar days) cannot be scientifically substantiated and is therefore false.

The official IAU Transaction Report of Commission 31 of the Proceedings of IX General Assembly in 1955 contains sufficient evidence to support my allegation that the International Astronomical Union had deliberately misrepresented scientific facts relating to the physical time interval of a sidereal year.

In 1955, the IAU passed the resolution to adopt the sidereal year of 31,556,925.97474 seconds as a physical measurement standard for the definition of the unit 'second', which had already, in effect, been proposed in Rome in 1952:

"The General Assembly in Rome in 1952 adopted the recommendation that 'dans tous les cas où l' on juge que la variabilité de la seconde de temps solaire moyen s'oppose à son emploie comme unité de temps, l' année sidérale pour 1900.0 soit adoptée comme unité de temps."

Around 1952, the IAU recognized the fact that a sidereal year, which is supposed to be more than 1223 seconds longer than the adopted figure of 31,556,925.97474 seconds, cannot occur in reality. Since the time intervals of a sidereal year and of a tropical year are considered to be equivalent, the IAU made the following statement in 1955 on page 454 of their official report: "…and all that was needed now was a minor correction by the substitution of 'tropical year' for 'sidereal year'."

By this seemingly harmless substitution of words, the IAU committed an unforgivable act of deception and misleading its members and the scientific community for over 45 years.

Such manipulation of words did certainly not occur due to ignorance of the physical facts and the lack of precise astronomical data, but it was done in order to cover up the truth:

The 'Precession of the Earth' is NOT a physical fact.

The IAU knew that the time intervals of the tropical year and the sidereal year are equal. However, for the definition of the second the IAU regarded the time interval of the tropical year to be 'more fundamental' than that of the sidereal year, whose time interval mysteriously increased by about 1223 seconds.

Such a year of about 31,558,149.8 seconds - misleadingly named sidereal year - has of course no practical application or relevance in astronomy, since it does not exist.

Nevertheless, it has been widely published in relevant textbooks as the true orbit time of the earth, despite the fact that earth's complete revolution period continues to be exactly 31,556,925.97474 seconds relative to the sun and relative to inertial space.

Note: Since the 'mean solar day' and the 'mean sidereal day' are rigorously related by mathematical formula, the precise time interval of the sidereal year (or tropical year) had been determined in practice by using meridian transit instruments to measure the rotation of the Earth with respect to certain fixed stars.

The IAU's argument that the sidereal year depends upon an adopted value of precession, whereas the length of the tropical year is derived from Newcomb's tables of the Sun, has a major scientific flaw. According to the IAU's standard model of precession it would have to be the time interval of the tropical year that is directly affected by precession, instead of the sidereal year which is the true time interval of earth's complete period of revolution around the sun.

Assuming for a moment that the minor 'time-delay' in meridian transition periods of stars is due to precession, it is obvious that such a precession cannot have any influence on the complete revolution periods of the earth around the sun relative to the position of these stars. In other words, it is physically impossible that precession causes a steady and accumulating time difference of about 1223 seconds per 360° revolution period of the earth between the sidereal year and the tropical year.

The IAU and its affiliate members like the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) have completely failed in their obligation to provide the public with substantiated and non-misleading astronomical data relating to the actual time interval of a sidereal year. Obviously, they are not interested in scientific facts. The NRC has proven its own incapacity when their experts were asked to provide such data. Despite a written complaint to the Prime Minister of Canada, his Advisory Council on Science & Technology (ACST) made no attempt to investigate this matter. The same arrogance and negligence was demonstrated by the German Federal Government, the International Council for Science (ICSU) in Paris and the US Naval Observatory in Washington just to name a few of the supposedly leading authorities.

Dr. Myles Standish at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), President of Commission 4 of the IAU, even made the naïve comment that I must "correct" the data obtained from practical observations and measurements, apparently to make it "fit" an established theory. This indicates to me that Dr. Standish seems to lack the ability to comprehend fundamental physical concepts in celestial mechanics.

Prof. Douglas P. Hube at the University of Alberta, an eminent member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and of the IAU, made a profound statement emphasizing the real dilemma of the situation.

"We scientists would claim that in the absence of precession, the tropical year and the sidereal year would be equal."

Prof. Hube's belief, that in this case the time interval of the 'fundamental' tropical year and that of an apparently 1223 seconds longer sidereal year would average out to a year of approx. 365.25 days, demonstrates his inability to understand basic physical laws. However, as a scientist he feels that he is under no obligation to substantiate what he says.

As a researcher, it is my duty to safeguard scientific principles and mathematical truth from any kind of manipulation. The same can be demanded from the authorities in our scientific community.

As I have presented arguments that are contrary to your scientific position, I am expecting a statement from the International Astronomical Union regarding these serious accusations that are brought against them in this letter.

Yours truly,

Uwe Homann

IN MEMORY OF GIORDANO (FILIPPO) BRUNO, WHO 400 YEARS AGO WAS BURNT ALIVE AT THE STAKE BY THE INQUISITION OF THE ROMAN-CATHOLIC CHURCH ON FEBRUARY 17, 1600 FOR HIS BELIEF IN AN INFINITE UNIVERSE.