The White House announced earlier this year that it would a uniform time standard for the moon by 2027, an essential measure as NASA wants a permanent presence on the lunar surface. Two researchers from Colorado have proposed a solution in a recently published scientific paper that would use clocks floating in space to calculate the time difference between the Earth and the Moon.
Humanity has never struggled with the time zone differences between two celestial bodies. To use earthly terms, the time difference between the Eastern and Pacific time zones in the United States is three hours. It is fixed and does not change. It is always three hours. This is not the case between planets and moons due to the theory of relativity. Time on the moon passes about 56 to 57 microseconds faster due to the weaker gravitational forces, and the clocks gradually get out of sync over time.
Neil Ashby, a professor at the University of Colorado, and Bijunath Patla, a scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, published a paper in the Astronomical Journal last week. The researchers proposed a solution to connect the Earth and the Moon using Lagrange points as centers of gravity. Futurism explains:
Clocks placed at Lagrange points in orbit, points in space where a small object can remain in the same position relative to them under the gravity of two larger objects, would serve as “time transfer links” between Earth and the Moon because these optimal points in orbit “provide a low-acceleration-noise environment” that allows scientists to easily correct relativity, the researchers write in the study.
Because it’s not just the gravity of these two celestial bodies that matters, researchers also take into account a number of parameters that take into account the tidal influence of other planets and the Sun. They also have to account for the rotation of the Earth and the Moon, as well as dozens of other cosmic perturbations that will make your head spin.
Space agencies would have a constant to calculate the times on both bodies in a sea of ​​variables. This standard could theoretically be pushed further as humanity reaches to Mars, above the solar system, and perhaps in the distant future the Milky Way.
A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik.
