Stardate
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The stardate is a comprehensive calendar system and unit of time measurement in the United Federation of Planets. The system of measuring time was introduced as a singular way for the many different races of the Federation to have a unified time system.
The Federation were not the first to develop a stardate system. In the 2150s, the Xindi used them as a way of recording time. The system was also considered by the Vulcans at the same time. (ENT episode: "Damage")
In either 2175 or 2176, stardates began being used for the first time, though Terran dates remained more popular. (TOS novel: Strangers from the Sky; NF - Double Helix novel: Double or Nothing)
During the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)'s first five-year mission between 2246 and 2251, the Federation were still preferring to use Terran dates as the standard time-keeping preset, but Captain Robert April decided that a better system needed to be used and outlined to Starfleet Command, upon the Enterprise's return to Earth in 2251, how the stardate system was more precise as a spacefaring method of timekeeping. (TOS short story: "Though Hell Should Bar the Way")
In the 24th Century, Starfleet's Temporal Investigations has agents trained to know a stardate down to the exact day and hour of an event. (DS9 novelization: Trials and Tribble-ations)
- There have been a number of changes made to the way stardates are calculated and used in Trek over the history of the franchise. While the system in the Original Series had no clear pattern to the progression of stardates, in the latter series set in the 24th century, it was accepted that 1000 stardate units equaled one solar year.
[edit] Connections
- Reference stardates, an alternate system used by FASA for their RPG.
- Stardate article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
