• hglman@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    7 months ago

    UTC doesn’t become wrong, you can either just accept a different pace of the clock, i.e. earth ppl will be ever so late to a meeting or it’s just a different kind of timezone conversion. Better would be to have a single time based on the reference frame of the center of the galaxy and everyone keep there time relative to that.

    • Vilian@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      7 months ago

      just use a time based on light?, like meter is based on the speed fo light in the vaccum, or use atomic based times?, like how long take for the hydrogen atom todo something bla bla bla

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        19
        ·
        7 months ago

        That’s actually what’s different on the moon. Relativity and all that means that time itself actually flows differently on the moon than it does on earth.

        The actual problem they’re working to solve is around timekeeping and GPS applications in different reference frames, but it’s hard to make a short headline about.

        • Ahrotahntee@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          7 months ago

          When I first saw the news I was thinking “there’s no way atoms vibrate differently on the moon” but you’re right it’s about perspective and I’ve realized there’s no way I’m smart enough to handle timezones on an interplanetary scale. I can only hope that the difference between earth seconds and moon seconds can be expressed as a consistent ratio.

          I will gladly use some programming library invented in the basement of a university powered by coffee, and rage.

          • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            7 months ago

            It’s well understood math, but it’s “only” relativistic orbital mechanics.

            It boils down to a pretty consistent number, but how you get there is related to the weight of the moon, how far it is from earth, and how fast it’s going.
            Since the moon is going different speeds at different places in it’s orbit, the number actually changes slightly over the month.

            They’re just using the average though, since it makes life far easier. We use the average for earth too, since clocks move differently at different altitudes or distances from the equator.

          • cynar@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            7 months ago

            It’s not too bad. Relativity says that no frame of reference is special.

            • On earth, a second looks like a second, but a second on the moon looks too quick.

            • On the moon, the second looks like a second, but a second on earth looks too slow.

            Both are actually correct. The simplest solution is to declare 1 to be the base reference. In this case, the earth second. Any lunar colonies will just have to accept that their second is slightly longer than they think it should be.

            If it helps, the difference is tiny. A second is 6.5x10^-10 seconds longer. This works out to 56 microseconds per 24 hours. It won’t affect much for a long time. About the only thing affected would be a lunar GPS.

              • cynar@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                7 months ago

                Unfortunately, it’s not a useful one. While we know approximately where it is, we don’t know how deep the gravity well is. That gravity well slows the passage of time, just like the earth does. Without an exact mass, and mass density, we can’t calculate the correction factor.

                • Vilian@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  i guesn it’s fine, just keep it updating, like the seed at little that got more precine since the creation of the meter but it got updated too