Liaison: International Astronomical Union (IAU)

Links between the BIPM and the IAU

• The IAU participates in the CCTF and the CCU.
• Members of the staff of the BIPM are active members of the IAU and participate in IAU commissions and working groups.

Purpose

The mission of IAU is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. Among the tasks of the IAU are the definition of fundamental astronomical and physical constants, and unambiguous astronomical nomenclature.

Interests common to the BIPM and the IAU include the time scales for the description of dynamical systems, the development and application of the theory of general relativity in the field of time and the use of pulsar data for the realization of a dynamic time scale.