This software accurately determines the current time in UTC.
One of the main strengths of this module is its ability to handle leap seconds correctly. Additionally, the module also puts a bound on how inaccurate the obtained time could be, making it a rigorously correct approach to determining civil time. It is designed to work seamlessly with the Time::UTC module that is also available.
UTC is a time scale derived from International Atomic Time (TAI). It divides time into days and each day into seconds. The seconds are atomically-realised SI seconds of uniform length. Most UTC days are 86400 seconds long, but occasionally there are days that are 86401 seconds long or, theoretically, 86399 seconds long. These leap seconds are used to keep the UTC day approximately synchronised with the non-uniform rotation of the Earth.
The Time::UTC::Now module identifies instants on the UTC scale by combining a day number and a number of seconds since midnight within the day. The day number used in the module is the integral number of days since 1958-01-01, which is the epoch of the TAI scale that underlies UTC. For users requiring a more general solution, the utc_day_to_mjdn function can be used to translate the day number to a standard Modified Julian Day Number, while the utc_day_to_cjdn function can be used to translate to a standard Chronological Julian Day Number that can then be used as input to a calendar module.
Overall, the Time::UTC::Now module is a reliable and accurate tool for obtaining the current UTC time, making it an excellent choice for those requiring precise timekeeping capabilities.
Version 0.006: N/A