TELESCOPE SYSTEMS AT LICK OBSERVATORY AND KECK OBSERVATORY

The telescopes in active use at Lick Observatory and Keck Observatory were constructed over an interval spanning more than a century. All of the telescope systems were designed in an era when systems which provide civil time were based on the rotation of the earth. Existing software systems for the control of telescopes at Lick Observatory and Keck Observatory use UTC as a close approximation to UT1. If UTC abandons leap seconds then ongoing operation will require various strategies suitable for each different telescope.