How do people in the star wars universe reference time? What do they use in place of minutes, days, weeks, months, etc? I've heard some NPCs mention "Galactic Standard Time" but that's it.

Parsecs of course according to Han Solo!

Parsecs of course according to Han Solo!

 

Well technically, parsecs are a measurement of distance. Not only in the Star Wars universe either, in our as well. In star wars, it equals 3.258 light years. From wookiepedia

By real world definition, a parsec is 360×60×60/2π Astronomical Units (AU). It is a measurement of distance based on apparent stellar motion as observed from Earth.

 

Since the Galactic Standard "AU", would be based on Coruscant's orbit (368 days) it would equal 150,349,907,726 meters. This makes a Galactic Standard parsec equal 31,011,894,586,294,500 meters. This is equivalent to 19,247,170,866,776.515 miles.

 

Note, that it is also possible that the Coruscant Day, Hour, etc. are 0.75% shorter than Earth's, in which case, the AU and parsec would be the same length as Earth's.

 

Learn more about:Parsecs

Edited January 16, 2013 by Canino

I know a parsec is a distance and not time measurement which is why Han saying in made the run in under 12 parsecs doesn't make sense.

Click is the only Star Wars unit of time I'm aware of. Although I have no idea what amount of time it represents in terms of the real world...

 

But apart from that they use the same time terms as we do e.g. 'hour'. In A New Hope Han Solo says:

 

"Anyway, we should be at Alderaan in about 0200 hours."

 

They also have minutes and seconds. And strangely, all of the main references to time are made by Han Solo...

 

EDIT: Wait, I found this on the Galactic Standard Calendar Wookiee page:

In the galaxy:

 

60 seconds = 1 minute

60 minutes = 1 hour

24 hours = 1 day

5 days = 1 week

7 weeks = 1 month

35 days = 1 month

368 days = 1 year

10 months + 3 festival weeks + 3 holidays = 1 year

 

And the days of the week are:

 

Primeday

Centaxday

Taungsday

Zhellday

Benduday

Edited January 16, 2013 by Beniboybling

I know a parsec is a distance and not time measurement which is why Han saying in made the run in under 12 parsecs doesn't make sense.

 

Ohh, I thought you making a definitive answer(if that makes sense). And it doesn't make since.

I know a parsec is a distance and not time measurement which is why Han saying in made the run in under 12 parsecs doesn't make sense.

 

From Wookieepedia:

 

"The thing to keep in mind about Solo's claim of doing the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs is that the Kessel Run is through the Maw. Event Horizons around black holes are dependent on the speed at which you are traveling. A standard ship has to do the run in 18 parsecs because to cut the route any closer, the ship would get sucked in. The Falcon, however, is fast enough to straighten the route and cut over 6 parsecs off the distance traveled. This makes sense, since the Falcon is faster than most ships and he was using more power than what the engines should have been able to use. While this argument may all be after-the-fact justification for an actual scriptwriting error, the logic does hold, although Solo could have just been boasting to his potential clients. "

 

Link: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Parsec

I know a parsec is a distance and not time measurement which is why Han saying in made the run in under 12 parsecs doesn't make sense.

 

Shortcuts.

Shortcuts.

 

That wouldn't make the Falcon itself any faster which is what he was trying to state. That would make him a better pilot/navigator and relate nothing to speed/time.

That wouldn't make the Falcon itself any faster which is what he was trying to state. That would make him a better pilot/navigator and relate nothing to speed/time.

 

Depends on the shortcuts he took. Could have been obstacles that only a very fast ship could get through, whereas a slow ship might have been sucked into a black hole or smacked by loads of asteroids or attacked by a horde of angry space-nerfs.

I prefer to just go with the 'it's a film and sometimes you've just got to go with it' approach. If I was bothered about scientific fact in my fiction, I wouldn't read as many comics as I do.

Click is the only Star Wars unit of time I'm aware of. Although I have no idea what amount of time it represents in terms of the real world...

 

But apart from that they use the same time terms as we do e.g. 'hour'. In A New Hope Han Solo says:

 

"Anyway, we should be at Alderaan in about 0200 hours."

 

They also have minutes and seconds. And strangely, all of the main references to time are made by Han Solo...

 

EDIT: Wait, I found this on the Galactic Standard Calendar Wookiee page:

 

 

And the days of the week are:

 

Primeday

Centaxday

Taungsday

Zhellday

Benduday

 

clicks are used for distance as well thoughe.g. i remember undahli sayin 50 clicks to the west

Distances are usually in metric - meter, kilometer (klick) etc. As for time, I only see references to Galactic standard time, could be anything really.

 

As for the parsec issue, Han flew so close to the black holes in the maw cluster, that the distance of the trip was actually shortened. Astrophysics covered up the script error.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Kane_Ren

Also the Falcon has engines that are meant for ships of a larger type. It's able to outrun, at Lightspeed, that a ship of it's size and typical loadout can't.