Kater's pendulum minutes per day slower than at Paris, or equivalently the length of a pendulum with a swing of one second there was 1¼ Paris "lines", or 2.6 mm, shorter than at Paris. It was realized by the scientists of the day, and proven by Isaac Newton in 1687, that this was due to the fact that the Earth was not a perfect sphere but slightly oblate; it was thicker at the equator because of the Earth's rotation. Since the surface was farther from the Earth's center at Cayenne than at Paris, gravity was weaker there. Since that time pendulums began
International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service conventions standards. , the most recent convention is the IERS Conventions (2010). A mission of the IERS is to provide earth orientation information to the greater geodesy community in the form of bulletins: International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), formerly the International Earth Rotation Service, is the body responsible for maintaining global time and reference frame standards, notably through its Earth Orientation Parameter (EOP) and International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) groups. The IERS was established in its present form in 1987 by the International Astronomical Union and the International Union