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A '''Year''' in GST is 400 days long (8,000 Hours) and is divided into '''Quarters''' of 100 Days each, corresponding to ''Fiscal Quarters''; this is the closest equivalent to Months in GST. |
A '''Year''' in GST is 400 days long (8,000 Hours) and is divided into '''Quarters''' of 100 Days each, corresponding to ''Fiscal Quarters''; this is the closest equivalent to Months in GST. |
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| − | Although there are no "weeks" or "months" in GST, days are grouped by local custom into "weeks" that vary widely in length, depending on the point of origin of the speaker. Because of this, a "GST Week" of 8 days has been informally adopted to reduce confusion between speakers. This standard week is five days of work with three days off. |
+ | Although there are no "weeks" or "months" in GST, days are grouped by local custom into "weeks" that vary widely in length, depending on the point of origin of the speaker. Because of this, a "GST Week" of 8 days has been informally adopted to reduce confusion between speakers. This standard week is five days of work with three days off.<ref>[[Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn]] pp. 55</ref> |
==Zero Time== |
==Zero Time== |
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Revision as of 17:18, 25 September 2015
GST, Hentz Standard Time and Clarion Standard Time
Galactic Standard Time (GST) was established by the Pan-Galactic Corporation in order to create a standardized system for record-keeping and coordination across multiple planets and star systems in The Frontier, each with its own "local" planetary time-keeping system in addition to the "standard" system used by the races which colonized the world.
Definitions
The foundation of the system is the Second, which is defined in GST as the length of time required by a beam of light to cross a distance of 300,000 kilometers in a vacuum.
60 Seconds form a Minute and 60 Minutes form an Hour.
A Day in GST is 20 hours long and split into a 10-hour "work" period and a 10-hour "rest" period, though this is mostly a nod to traditional "day" and "night" periods more than "work"and "rest" periods.
A Year in GST is 400 days long (8,000 Hours) and is divided into Quarters of 100 Days each, corresponding to Fiscal Quarters; this is the closest equivalent to Months in GST.
Although there are no "weeks" or "months" in GST, days are grouped by local custom into "weeks" that vary widely in length, depending on the point of origin of the speaker. Because of this, a "GST Week" of 8 days has been informally adopted to reduce confusion between speakers. This standard week is five days of work with three days off.[1]
Zero Time
The central clock in the Frontier is maintained at Pan-Galactic Corporation's headquarters in Port Loren, Gran Quivera, Prenglar. This highly accurate atomic clock marks the passing hours, days and years, communicating via dedicated Subspace Radio link to each system within range. Most Frontier residents refer to this as "GST Time", but the military and Star Law call it "Zero Time", much like Zulu Time on Earth.
Each Frontier and Rim world synchronizes its central clock by sending a subspace radio signal to the central clock in Gran Quivera, initiating a series of "pings" on each end that precisely measure the delay of the response signal, accounting for each world's relativistic movement through space in relation to Gran Quivera. Similar networks exist among nearby worlds, with computers running powerful math programs to synchronize both worlds with the central computer at Gran Quivera, enabling the entire Frontier (and Rim) to have a highly reliable Zero Time standard.[2]
Real-World Comparison
In the real world, a beam of light crosses 299,792.458 km in one second (known as one Light Second) in a vacuum, which is very close to the GST definition of one second, but not exact; this means that either:
A) The GST Second does not correspond exactly to a Real World Light Second
OR
B) A Star Frontiers Meter (measure of distance) does not correspond exactly to a Real World Meter.[3]
The difference in either is negligible for daily use, but one area that is affected is the year; the 400-day GST year (8,000 GST Hours) is markedly shorter than the 365-day (8,765.81 hours) Real-World equivalent (by over a month, which is approximately 725 hours long).
This is an important consideration for characters; a character who is 20 GST years old would be just over 18 using Earth-standard years.
Notes
- ↑ Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn pp. 55
- ↑ Although this is all speculative, there is no reason why this cannot be done in the setting: each link requires two subspace radios and a computer with a high level Analysis program (finally making these programs useful!) and a communications program. Each world also needs a central computer with a high level math analysis program a communication program and an astrogation program to tie it all together.
- ↑ This is the likelier of the two: real-world meters are based on the diameter of Earth, meaning that another standard was used to determine the length of a SF meter.