Thank you so much for asking! Because of the sheer size of the bay, many residents live on unique timescales based on where they live. Where there is a universal timescale rooted in average measurements of orbit and length that is used in most interstellar communication, local time scales vary drastically between systems and even individual planets. The universal timescale is measured in seconds based on the oscillation of cesium atoms. Sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 30 days in a cycle, and 12 cycles in a year, or 360 days. This scale can be written in a 13 digit format: age(1 digit):year(4 digits):cycle(2 digits):day(2 digits):hour(2 digits):minute(2 digits) format, and can be shortened or lengthened depending on the context. Ages are defined as periods between significant historical events, and typically last around two thousand years, although this varies. For example, at the time of this writing, the full standard date and time can be written as 4:2004:06:23:14:45:09. However, this timescale was designed for efficiency and does not accurately map onto the solar periods of most, if any, actual inhabited bodies. Most planets have their own time systems based on their orbital periods, and their inhabited moons often follow these same periods, although some have their own. Inhabited interstellar bodies mostly use standard time. One very interesting result of these differences is the varied circadian rhythms of individuals based on their home planets. The faster a planet spins, the faster the day night cycle passes. On rapid rotation worlds, days can last 3 hours or less. Work, education, and all other activities are divided into these chunks, with some people going their whole life with no more than two hours of sleep at a time. Conversely, on extended rotation worlds where stellar days can last entire cycles or even years, people will stay awake for ten days or more, followed by a deep, ten day sleep. One again, work, education, and all other activities are centered around this long cycle. These drastic differences create conflicts when people from rapid rotation worlds visit extended rotation worlds, or vice versa, as their sleep cycles do not line up with the periods of societal activity. In recent years, researchers in the budding field of neural editing science have developed several prototypes that can be used to artificially edit circadian rhythms and solve this issue. Early access versions have been placed in select spaceports across the bay, but they have faced criticism for their intrusive nature.
