Article

Time

The current time is

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/

or

http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_GB.aspx

Introduction

Local time is approximately related to the sun, so it is daylight in daytime everywhere, this means however that time is different in different places around the world.

GMT – Greenwich Mean Time was the main time everything was based upon and still is, although it has acquired some new names.

UTC - Coordinated Universal Time - the international basis for other time zones. Same time as for GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and Zulu time.

Z time or Zulu time – exactly the same as GMT or UTC, but the name it is known by in military and similar organisations.

UTC is now derived from the atomic clock with some slight modifications from time to time, so that the last minute of the day can have an extra second, from time to time called a leap second, so far potentially on June 30^th and December 31^st, but occurs about every 18 months.  As the earth continues to slow, more leap seconds will need to be added so by the 22nd century this will become annual and by the 25^th century 4 seconds a year will need to be added. Some scientists that need very accurate time, use TAI time which is the atomic clock time with no leap seconds.

European time codes  http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/eu/

North American time codes  http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/na/

Military/NATO time zone codes 

Z = GMT (UTC, World time)

A=+1, B=+2, C=+3  etc

Starting at M for military (also +12 hours shift), each letter on is negative, therefore N=-1, O=-2, P=-3

http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/military/

Full list of time codes around the world http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/

Effect of daylight saving time or summer time

Many places vary this from year to year, some making odd changes to suit local celebrations or events. In 2007, 71 countries had some form of daylight saving time, although in 10 it was not for the whole country, 132 did not have any.  Remember in the Southern Hemisphere, summer is in the winter of the northern hemisphere, so while London had summer time (daylight saving time) from March 25^th to October 28^th, most parts of Australia started its on 28^th October and ended on March 25^th. Many have different dates and in some countries they can have different dates for each part of the country.

Where is currently light

http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?UTC/s/0/java also time in any US state

Want to know the exact time (GMT and local time) good for setting clocks etc.

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/

Current time in many places around the world

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

or longer list http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/full.html

What is the time in one place when it is a defined time in another

 How you set the date, if you want 12 or 24 hour representation

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Registry helper

http://www.reghelper.com look at affiliate

Want a clever clock to show a number of places on your computer desk top that can be customised to suit you, then see

http://kybtec.de/wbx01/ssh01/Home/HomeX01.aspx the4 - cost is about £8

Other time and date related information

Take a look in the reference section at the page labelled ‘Weather, tides, sunrise, sunset and calendars’  you will find links to a variety of resources that allow you to see a very wide range of information.

Let us suppose you are planning a holiday and would like to take a photo with the full moon reflecting in the wet sand approaching low tide.  So you need to be able to find the phases of the moon and times it rises and sets, the tides for your chosen location and perhaps a little more, nearer the time you may want to check out the weather forecasts.

A wildlife photographer may want to get into a hide early, and a full moon would make moving about easier, particularly if there was little cloud.

The landscape photographer planning a seascape may want to know if the tide is going to be in or out, and if you are more energetic, want to know that you are not going to get caught out by the tide while taking that walk around the headland.

We also give you links to get information on local holy days and festivals, daylight saving time, and information on when and where to see the Severn Bore and Trent Aegir.

So what else would you find helpful, why not let us know.

On a more light-hearted note

Startrek Stardate times

On the popular series and films based on travelling in space and sometimes time, entries were often made in the log quoting a stardate. This time frame starts on first Jan 2323 at 00:00:00  and 1 stardate interval is approximately 8 hours, 45 minutes and 36 seconds long. There is no logical reason for this, its deduced by treckies, and some scripts, particularly early ones, don’t quite fit this concept.

To convert any date/time to a Stardate time visit - http://www.hillschmidt.de/gbr/sternenzeit.htm

Current dates are negative being before 2323 (unless this website page is around a long time).

If you want to identify the Startrek storyline by our dates see  http://www.fedtrek.com/Timeline.html