WASHINGTON — Time moves a tad faster on the moon. Now an international group of astronomers has joined calls to give the moon its own clock so that future space missions can keep track of minutes on the celestial body.
The International Astronomical Union voted Thursday encouraging space organizations across the globe to collaborate on a timekeeping standard for the moon, where one day lasts 29.5 Earth days.
“That’s the crux of our resolution: to work together to establish this standard time,” U.S. Naval Observatory’s Susan Stewart said last week during the group’s conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Stewart helped propose the resolution.
The moon has less gravity than Earth does, so time ticks by about 58.7 microseconds quicker every day. As more countries and companies set their sights on lunar missions, astronomers want to ensure perfect synchrony with a unified clock.
