Butters Posted May 20, 2011 Posted May 20, 2011 I´m trying to work out a way to have a system of measuring the date that is not limited by the rotations of planets etc. Something that is not necessarily local and could be used to give a universal ´date´across, well everything. The problem I keep coming up against is the huge distances involved which seem to make it fairly meaningless to say it is X at this point everywhere. Because I suppose, any measurements somebody was making would be based on old light reaching them... Basically, does anyone know of this being done already. Even if not universal, at least galactic? As in something that involved the curent positions of stars according to each other, or the rotation of the galaxy and so on. It seems that there is no real way to say it is THIS time and date everywhere at once. What compromises could be made to get a working system.
Light Storm Posted May 20, 2011 Posted May 20, 2011 I´m trying to work out a way to have a system of measuring the date that is not limited by the rotations of planets etc. Something that is not necessarily local and could be used to give a universal ´date´across, well everything. The problem I keep coming up against is the huge distances involved which seem to make it fairly meaningless to say it is X at this point everywhere. Because I suppose, any measurements somebody was making would be based on old light reaching them... Basically, does anyone know of this being done already. Even if not universal, at least galactic? As in something that involved the curent positions of stars according to each other, or the rotation of the galaxy and so on. It seems that there is no real way to say it is THIS time and date everywhere at once. What compromises could be made to get a working system. The standard Gregorian calendar has less todo with planet alignments, and more to do with religious propaganda. I sincerely doubt it would be possible to replace the accepted system with one regardless of how much more sense it would make. The layout of keys on most peoples keyboards was originally formulated to slow typing speed down so they wouldn't jam keys together in a type writer. That obviously isn't the problem anymore, but the layout has undergone universal acceptance making it very difficult to change for everyone. Changing the modern day calendar would be far more difficult to re-write.
Spyman Posted May 20, 2011 Posted May 20, 2011 I´m trying to work out a way to have a system of measuring the date that is not limited by the rotations of planets etc. Something that is not necessarily local and could be used to give a universal ´date´across, well everything. Any aliens anywhere can measure the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and tell how long time it has gone since the Big Bang. Not a very precise calender when dealing with several billions of years but they would get roughly the same values that we get.
Butters Posted May 22, 2011 Author Posted May 22, 2011 Any aliens anywhere can measure the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and tell how long time it has gone since the Big Bang. Not a very precise calender when dealing with several billions of years but they would get roughly the same values that we get. Yeah I thought of this one. It seems to be maybe the only thing that could be measured independently over vast distances, but as you say, it is not exactly precise. I was hoping for something a little bit more accurate, but I guess there is nothing. What about something on a galactic level, say the rotation of a galaxy compared to surround galaxies in its cluster. One full revolution is a galactic year. I believe this already exists as an idea, but how would you go about dividing it up. It{s something like 225 million years a rotation, so you would need to have 182.5634232 degrees and so on. Could work I suppose, if there was some way to get a distinctive starting point. Then of course, how would you know how MANY times it had rotated. That{s where the background radiation would come in I suppose.
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