The REAL8 keyword denotes an double precision 64-bit number with values ranging from negative 1.79769313486232e308 to positive 1.79769313486232e308, as well as positive or negative zero, PositiveInfinity, NegativeInfinity, and not a number ( NaN). It is intended to represent values that are extremely large (such as distances between planets or galaxies) or extremely small (the molecular mass of a substance in kilograms) and that often are imprecise (such as the distance from earth to another solar system), The Double type complies with the IEC 60559:1989 (IEEE 754) standard for binary floating-point arithmetic.
