From: CXMP@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA (CXMP000)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current,rec.arts.startrek.misc,rec.arts.startrek.tech
Subject: RE: STARDATE UPDATE (and correction)
Date: 7 Jan 93 18:58:43 GMT
Organization: McGill University

In article <wB2XwB3w165w@ailanthus.com> tallman@ailanthus.com (Robert Oliver) writes:
>UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS
>REVISED STARDATE SYSTEM * SOL SYSTEM
>
>SD        RD        EVENT
>9521        2294?        Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (This is
>an old system stardate)
>
>The stardate system apparantly changed sometime in this timeframe. I
>assume they would start at SD 10000 to avoid conflicts with the previous
>system, but this leaves about a 39 year gap between the two systems. It
>is possible that the Federation changed to a completely different
>timekeeping system during this period that had nothing to do with the old
>one or the TNG one. Who knows?
>
>4. October 4, 2363 * SD 40759.5: Stardate at Utopia Planitia Yards, Mars
>for the USS Enterprise D commissioning ceremonies from the TNG Tech
>Manual. A math mistake on my early work on this system showed that these
>ceremonies would have taken place at noon on the 4th. However, after
>correcting my math, it turns out that this event took place on the 5th of
>October. Great, I thought to myself, it doesn't work! It was then that I
>remembered the reason I had screwed up the math in the first place--the
>Leap Year. My original short post on the net used a 365 day year but
>actually had an extra day that it shouldn't have had--February 29 (only
>appears in a leap year). Assuming that 2363 is a leap year then the
>stardate *is* correctly placed on the 4th (near midnight).
>   Multiplying 2.732240437158 (1000 divided by 366) by 278 (adding one
>day to the normal count for Oct 4) the result is 759.5628415299
>   I make no claim for devising this system as it is apparant that Mike
>Okuda worked this all out years ago (including leap years). His upcoming
>Star Trek Chronology (written with his wife Denise and currently
>scheduled for March 1993) will hopefully provide more information about
>stardates.
>
That would be interesting.  Unfortunately, I'm not convinced anymore
you've actually hit on something.  That "39 year gap" seems awfully
troublesome to me.  Oh well, at least were *talking* about this.

Here's something I'm going to put in my next "Not the Technical Manual"
post:

it is apparent that on ST:TNG 1000 stardates is a year (1000 stardates
pass each season and, most recently in TNG:"Chain of Command I", we've
had indications that each season is a year).  I'm going to make some
assumptions in an attempt to solve this puzzle.

First of all, let's assume that the stardate system began in the year
2261 and each stardate was a day.  In 96 years, 35064 days will pass.
Thus, the year 2357 would contain the stardate 35064.  If the stardate
system was then changed so that 1000 stardates pass each year then the
year 2364 would contain the stardate 42064.  Meanwhile, in the episode
"The Neutral Zone", the year is given as 2364 and the stardate as
41986.0.  I will now compare calculated dates from TOS and movie
stardates with the dates given in Robert Oliver's STARTREK TIMELINE.

Episode/Movie     Stardate  Date by Calculation  Date by Other Means
Where No Man ...  1312.4    2265                 2270
Tomorrow is Yest. 3113.2    2270                 2270
Space Seed        3141.9    2270                 2270
All Our Yest.     5943.7    2277                 2272
Star Trek I       7412.3    2281                 2277
Star Trek II      8130.6    2283                 2285
Star Trek III     8210.3    2283                 2285
Star Trek IV      8390.0    2284                 2286
Star Trek VI      9521.6    2287                 2297

Of course, when you consider stardates you should keep in mind
that the episodes "The Battle", "The Arsenal of Freedom" and "The Big
Goodbye" featured Tasha Yar and stardates 41723.9, 41798.2 and
(supposedly) 41997.7 whereas Tasha Yar died stardate (supposedly)
41601.3 in "Skin of Evil".  The bottom line then is that, while
stardates can be made give a fair fit for known dates, the stardates are
not given enough consideration by Paramount to actually be useful.

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