A stardate is a means of specifying absolute dates in the fictional Star Trek universe. They are decimal numbers, usually rounded to a single decimal place, which replace absolute Gregorian calendar dates. The in-universe behavior of stardates is much less transparent than that of any known calendar, because the writers chose the numbers more or less arbitrarily, depending on the era of Star Trek in question. One of the stated reasons for stardat...
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A stardate is a means of specifying absolute dates in the fictional Star Trek universe. They are decimal numbers, usually rounded to a single decimal place, which replace absolute Gregorian calendar dates. The in-universe behavior of stardates is much less transparent than that of any known calendar, because the writers chose the numbers more or less arbitrarily, depending on the era of Star Trek in question. One of the stated reasons for stardates was the need to establish the events in the series as taking place far into the future without tying the episodes down to a specific date.
Stardate numbers generally increase with time, although locally they increase with time at different rates, both within particular episodes as well as between. Some future stardates are lower than past stardates. The occasional decrease with time was more prevalent during the original series than during Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which stardates increased with time more consistently. Stardates...
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