Jack T. Chakhesang
Time is a factor to understand which one has to delve into astronomy, mathematics, physics, geography and history of the creation. Time can be calculated based on the positions of distant stars which seem to be stationary when in actual fact, they are moving at very great speeds but they are so very distant that they seem to be in the same position for thousands of years. Time is also linked to the activities of the Earth as a planet. For instance, Earth rotates on its axis and follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The rotation makes the Sun appear to move across the sky from East to West. This rotation determines day and night, and the complete rotation, in relation to the Sun, is called the apparent or true solar day. A sundial thus becomes apparent solar time. The length of time varies but an average determines the mean solar day of 24 (twenty four) hours.
The mean solar day and mean solar time are in universal use for civil purposes. Mean solar time may be obtained from apparent solar time by correcting observations of the positions of the Sun for equation of time. Mean solar time may be up to ten minutes different from apparent solar time.
Sidereal time is the measure of time defined by the diurnal motion of the vernal equinox and is determined from observation of the meridian transits of stars. One complete rotation of Earth relative to the equinox is called sidereal day. The mean sidereal day is 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4,091 (repeat 4,091) seconds of mean solar time.
The interval required for Earth to make one absolute revolution around the Sun is a sidereal year. It consisted of 365 days, six hours, nine minutes and 9.5 (repeat 9.5) seconds of mean solar time (approximately 24 hours per day) in year 1900 and has been increasing at the rate of 0.0001 (repeat 0.0001) second annually.
The tropical year, upon which our (Gregorian) calendar is based, is the interval between two consecutive returns of the Sun to the vernal equinox. The tropical year consisted of 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds in 1900. It has been decreasing at the rate of 0.530 (repeat 0.530) second per century. The calendar year begins at 12 o’clock midnight precisely, local clock time, on the night of Dec. 31 -- Jan. 01. The day and the calendar month also begin at midnight by the clock.
On Jan. 01, 1972, the Bureau International des Poids Measures in Paris introduced International Atomic Time (TAI) as the most precisely determined time scale for astronomical usage. The fundamental unit of TAI in the international system of units is the second, defined as the duration of 9,192,631.770 (repeat 9,192,631.770) periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition of the cesium 133 atom. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which serves as the basis for civil timekeeping and is the standard time of the prime meridian, is officially defined by a formula which relates UTC to mean sidereal time in Greenwich, England (UTC has since replaced Greenwich Mean Time – GMT -- as the basis for standard time for the world).
GMT is aligned on zero degree longitude. The Indian Standard Time follows the GMT system by basing on 82.5 degrees East longitude which passes through Mirzapur in Eastern U.P. (incidentally, the parliamentary constituency of the late and former “Bandit Queen” Phoolan Devi). That is why Nagaland has sunrise and sunset about two hours earlier than New Delhi.
Since the speed of rotation of Earth about its axis is slightly variable and thus affects the calculation of time, the variations have been classified as:-
(A) Secular: Tidal friction acts as a brake on the rotation and causes a slow secular increase in the length of the day, about one millisecond per century.
(B) Irregular: The speed of rotation may increase for a number of years, about five to ten, and then start decreasing. The maximum difference from the mean is the length of the day during a century is about five milliseconds. The accumulated difference in time has amounted to approximately 44 seconds since 1900. The cause according to experts is probably motion in the interior of the Earth.
(C) Periodic: Seasonal variations exist with periods of one year and six months. The cumulative effect is such that each year, Earth is late about 30 milliseconds near 01 June and about 30 milliseconds near Oct. 01. The maximum seasonal variation in the length of the day is about 0.5 (repeat 0.5) milliseconds. It is believed that the principal cause of the annual variation is the seasona1 change in the wind patterns of the northern and southern hemispheres. The semi-annual variation is due chiefly to tidal action of the Sun which distorts the shape of the Earth slightly.
Thus, just as there is day and night affecting all aspects of life, so also we have truth and falsehood, heaven and hell. They are with us and they are ahead of us; and some people, as they look over the world find it easier to believe in hell, than in heaven. As Browning says in Time’s Revenges: “There may be heaven; There must be hell.”
Another reason for the two alternatives of heaven and hell lies in the contrast between those who are holy and those who are sinful. (Our sins are set in the awful light of the Almighty Lord’s countenance, not in the partial discernment of man as he lives his life which is time-based.) And now the ultimate question, both in time and in eternity is man’s relationship to the Father who has redeemed him by the sacrifice of His Son. Man’s works, attainments in character, amends in some intermediate state, can never pass the bar of divine judgement. Every man’s destiny (which becomes apparent with the passage of time) is shaped by his attitude and disposition toward Christ as can be found in all His parables (Matthew 25:12, 24, 40; John 3:16).
As such, the Almighty Creator can give you or anyone else, good health, long life, generations of descendants and immense wealth. However, even He cannot repeat today’s date which will never come again throughout eternity or until the end of time because He cannot break His own laws of creation. So, every second’s worth of time is precious. Never waste it. You live only once on Earth. Make the most of it and contribute to society all that you are capable of. It is one of the best ways to repay the Almighty Lord for all the blessings that He has bestowed upon you.
As the concluding stanza in Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If”, says:-
“If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run;
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it;
And which is more; you’ll be a man, my son.”
