UTC vs Local vs DST?

[nakbrooks]

Personally I always set my observing system to local time without daylight saving.  However I know others allow daylight saving and some people use UTC. I've even heard of people working remotely who use the time at their home location rather than the observatory site.

 

Obviously it doesn't affect pointing or tracking directly as Autoslew makes the adjustments, but there are practical concerns.

 

What are the pros and cons of the different time settings - just gathering thoughts for a FAQ article on the Wiki.

 

Nigel

 

[RamaSpaceShip]

Hi Nigel,

 

Time setting difference is a constant offset on RA, and so it can be fixed easily when you do the pointing model. This means that it is not really important providing that you keep it.

 

UTC is very helpful as it is independant from the localisation of the telescope, and thus can be shared with people anywhere on earth. It also simplifies time operations.

 

Local time of the telescope is practical when looking at sky maps.

 

Using home local time just makes alarm setting easier.

 

Best regards.

 

Bernard