Union Standard Time

Union Standard Time is the method of timekeeping used within the United Stars of the Galaxies.

History
Ever since it's founding, the United Stars of the Galaxies has tried to walk a thin line between encouraging diversity and standardization in various aspects of it's society.

The concept of "day" for societies that had that concept prior to joining the Union, was highly dependent on the rotational period of their planet of origin. Many times when a society had colonized other planets, each planet would use a local method of keeping time as well a the "standard time" for that society.

When the Union was founded, there was a push to standardize timekeeping at least within the Union Military. Since Terrans had the biggest influence on what form the combined military structure would take, it was decided to adopt a variant of what is now known as OTT (Old Terran Time) as the standard time for the military.

As as result, OTT became the de facto standard of timekeeping for many years.

Union Time Reform
As more societies joined the Union, a number of resolutions were proposed to modify the methods used to keep time. The current standard timekeeping method was initially approved for use only within the Assembly. It gradually came into more public acceptance, coexisting with OTT for many years. In addition, many planet based societies also made use of local time based on the rotation of their planet. .

In 5054 the Assembly ordered the Union Military to switch to the new standard time. By this time, outside the military there was very few societies who primarily used OTT. While discouraged, many planet based societies still use a local time system, although that is becoming less common especially within older Union members.

Time keeping
The Union Standard time is officially based upon a multiple of the half life of a specific atomic weight of a specific element under a specific set of conditions. It's measured in Union Standard Seconds, Union Standard Minutes, Union Standard Hours, Union Standard Days, Union Standard Months and Union Standard Years.
 * Union Standard Second is the standard unit of measurement in the Union Standard time.
 * Union Standard Minute = 100 Union Standard Seconds
 * Union Standard Hour = 100 Union Standard Minutes
 * Union Standard Day = 20 Union Standard Hours (equals 1 OTT day.)
 * Union Standard Week = 10 Union Standard Days
 * Union Standard Month = 50 Union Standard Days or 5 Union Standard Weeks.
 * Union Standard Year = 10 Union Standard Months.

Conversion
The Union Standard Day is equal in length to OTT day. The conversion between the Union Standard time and Old Terran Time is as follows.