# Timekeeping

Keeping track of time in a meaningful way when your polity controls a dozen worlds and has trade relations with at least 5 dozen more is hard. Thus was invented the Standard Galactic Time Unit. With that system, interplanetary (and interstellar) activities have a common neutral time system to synchronise things such has Faster than Light Communication, while planet-side affairs typically use a mix of the expressing an absolute unit in the largest SGTU sub-unit that’ll fit in a local day, to which is added a SGTU duration after the local normalised sunrise.

For example Earth’s 30 September 2065, 13:12 UTC would be `3D13.65/1` (or `18F.3D13.6556.6AD9` for full specificity) in interstellar communication, but would be referred to as something like `3D13.6/1L+1b1af/1` "on the day that starts on `3D13.6/1` according to the `L`ocal standardised day, at `1b1af/1` past local standardised midnight.

Note however that, as of 2376, Earth, despite being a signatory of the GTCO still seldom use SGTUs in planetary affairs, oft choosing to use it’s legacy base 60 time system.