UT1

Units & Measurements abbreviation · Time Zone

UT1
Stands forUniversal Time 1
CategoriesUnits & Measurements

UT1 stands for Universal Time 1, a time zone abbreviation.

Astronomical time based on Earth's actual rotation angle, measured by very-long-baseline radio interferometry of distant quasars. It drifts irregularly as Earth's spin varies, and UTC is kept within 0.9 second of it.

Example: Telescope pointing software applies the current UT1 correction published by the IERS.

Usage notes

The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service publishes the difference DUT1 = UT1 − UTC, which some radio time signals also broadcast. UT1 is the modern successor of GMT as a measure of mean solar time. Earth has recently been spinning slightly faster than in past decades, one reason no leap second has been needed since 2016.

More time zone abbreviations

  • PT – Pacific Time
  • SAST – South African Standard Time
  • SGT – Singapore Standard Time
  • SST – Samoa Standard Time
  • TAI – International Atomic Time
  • TRT – Turkey Time
  • UTC – Coordinated Universal Time
  • WAT – West Africa Time
  • WEST – Western European Summer Time
  • WET – Western European Time
  • WIB – Waktu Indonesia Barat (Western Indonesia Time)
  • Z – Zulu time (UTC)

See all 64 time zone abbreviations →