[AstroPy] Wrong earth mass in astropy.constants

[Eric Jensen]

The IAU passed a resolution relatively recently addressing exactly this problem, and recommending standard values, while acknowledging that best estimates might continue to diverge slightly from these.  So it seems like these IAU standard values would be a good option to consider for use in astropy: 

https://arxiv.org/abs/1510.07674

Resolution B3 here:

https://www.iau.org/static/resolutions/IAU2015_English.pdf

Eric

> On Nov 28, 2016, at 10:11 AM, Eric Winter <ewinter at stsci.edu> wrote:
> 
> Therein lies the problem – who decides on the “best accepted value”? My initial thought would be to use values of constants defined by appropriate authorities, such as NASA, AAS, or IAU. But those values will always (and with good reason) lag behind the “latest value”. I think (this is just IMHO, of course) that official, vetted and reviewed values from trusted authorities should be used for AstroPy – and only such values. If a given user needs a more recent value, they can simply override it in their own code (and document said change, of course).
> 
> FWIW
> Eric Winter