Compute the Earth rotation matrix  


updated on December 2007

Include combined EOP C04 (1962 - today + 6 months prediction) :
Celestial pole offsets   UT1 - UTC   Polar motion

Include diurnal and semidiurnal variations produced by ocean tides in polar motion and UT1 (IERS conventions 2000)

Civil date :     year   month   day

UTC :       h   min   s

Real time
stop   yes 




                               2012 5 16     15 h 04 min 31 s   UTC 
                 
-0.185632272374    -0.982618514804     0.001230372796 
 0.982619253669    -0.185632437625    -0.000020498476 
 0.000248539283     0.001205182820     0.999999242881

Transformation coordinate M from the international terrestrial reference system (ITRF) to the international celestial reference frame (ICRF) : Celestial coordinates ( X Y Z) = M x Terrestrial coordinates ( x y z )
  • from 1962 to the current week the matrix can include the EOP of the IERS combined series C04 (time resolution for EOP fluctuations is about 6 days), as well as diurnal and semidiurnal variations in UT1 and polar motion produced by oceanic tides (IERS 2000 conventions). Accuracy is 0.0001", corresponding to 5 10-10 rad.

  • from the current week to 6 months afterthe matrix is computed from the prediction of the polar motion and UT1-UTC.

  • outside the range [1962, current week+ 6 months prediction] the rotation matrix is restricted to the diurnal rotation and the precession-nutation model IAU 2000

  • The last digit (12) of the matrix element corresponds to the pico radian level. Corresponding time resolution for the matrix variation is 14 nano seconds.