I was viewing some observer output from JPL's Horizons while writing this answer and I saw this annotation. "Prior to 1962, times are UT1. Dates thereafter are UTC".
Presumably users of JPL's Horizons interface exist in times much more recent than 1962, and I am guessing that the relationship between UT1 and UTC could be calculated before 1962...
Question: So why would the timescale used for time values in historical ephemerides change between data displayed for 1961 and for 1962?
What actually changed then?
Column meaning:
TIME
Prior to 1962, times are UT1. Dates thereafter are UTC. Any 'b' symbol in the 1st-column denotes a B.C. date. First-column blank (" ") denotes an A.D. date. Calendar dates prior to 1582-Oct-15 are in the Julian calendar system. Later calendar dates are in the Gregorian system.
Time tags refer to the same instant throughout the solar system, regardless of where the observer is located. For example, if an observation from the surface of another body has an output time-tag of 12:31:00 UTC, an Earth-based time-scale, it refers to the instant on that body simultaneous to 12:31:00 UTC on Earth.
The Barycentric Dynamical Time scale (TDB) is used internally as defined by the planetary equations of motion. Conversion between TDB and the selected non-uniform UT output time-scale has not been determined for UTC times after the next July or January 1st. The last known leap-second is used as a constant over future intervals.