# What is the Moon’s time zone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829 "2024-04-04T18:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/1 "2024-04-04T18:56:51Z")
[NASA has been ordered to figure it out.](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68722032) Not a question I’ve ever thought about, but I can see why it would be important. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/2 "2024-04-04T19:11:57Z")
I think all the science fiction I’ve ever read put it on GMT. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/3 "2024-04-04T19:19:01Z")
Not sure, but for a while on Monday it will definitely be on Daylight Saving Time. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/4 "2024-04-04T19:57:03Z")
All the Apollo missions were on Houston time. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/5 "2024-04-04T20:29:34Z")
UTC (the replacement for GMT, and equivalent at a layman’s level) is really the only sensible answer. The world, and even NASA’s parochial little world, is a lot less Houston-centric than 55+ years ago when Apollo was all the rage. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/6 "2024-04-04T20:47:11Z")
If you read the article, it’s a misleading headline. NASA isn’t talking about the time zone, they are talking about how fast clocks should run. The article itself never mentions time zone, so I’m blaming a crappy headline writer, not the author. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/7 "2024-04-04T22:34:01Z")
Yeah, what I heard on the radio yesterday had to do with time running slightly faster on the moon because of its lower gravity. (Googling tells me this is 56 microseconds faster per each earth day.) Not simply a question of “what time zone?” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/8 "2024-04-04T22:34:18Z")
Can someone explain what the fuck this is about, then? It is already known (to a certain degree of accuracy!) how fast clocks run on the Moon and how that is related to Geocentric Coordinate Time and Barycentric Coordinate Time. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > UTC definitely not this: start with TCG and then account for the movements and gravitational potential of the Moon ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/9 "2024-04-04T22:44:37Z")
The question is what standard should be used. Does the moon use the local period for a second or synchronize with clocks on earth? NASA wants everyone to agree, both other governments and private businesses. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/10 "2024-04-04T23:02:55Z")
I guess the point is that one can’t just wave one’s hands: there is a very specific procedure and algorithm for determining UTC starting from multiple atomic clocks and various observations, so something like that should be implemented on the surface of the Moon as well. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/11 "2024-04-04T23:06:11Z")
I saw the name being Coordinated Lunar Time. I like it. Would sound cool à la WWV “At the tone 2 hours thirty minutes coordinated lunar time” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-moon-s-time-zone/999829/12 "2024-04-04T23:06:44Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > The question is what standard should be used. Does the moon use the local period for a second or synchronize with clocks on earth? NASA wants everyone to agree, both other governments and private businesses. Everyone can’t agree on that, because it depends on context, but for every context there is a single One Correct Answer. For anything involving communication or coordination with Earth, use Earth seconds. For experiments performed on the Moon, use Moon seconds. Basically, the clocks should be Earthly, but the stopwatches should be Lunar.