Astronomers are to do battle with the time lords of the International Telecommunications Union over plans to scrap leap seconds, the markers occasionally added to a year to give timescales relying on the slowing spin of the Earth a chance to catch up with atomic clocks.

Without these seconds the sun rises "later and later", confusing sensitive telescopes tuned to the sun's position in the sky. The union says the seconds are creating differences between the timescales used by various groups. But the Royal Astronomical Society says those who want the ban are "exporting" their problems.