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The current Bully Row timestamp is:
8209 28EE 0DB6
Percentage count to next timestamp is: 6%
This page was loaded on: 2024-05-21 02:56:10 (UTC) (Update page)
JavaScript Implementation
JavaScript Implementation (github)
JavaScript Source Code (github)
What is the Bully Row time system?
The Bully Row time system (informally Bully Time) is neither a clock nor a calendar. Clocks are tied to the rotation of the Earth and measure Universal Time (UT) in terms of days and fractions of days (for example: hours, minutes, and seconds). Calendars are tied to changes in the seasons, which result from the orbit of the Earth around the Sun (Ephemeris time), and from the precession of the equinoxes. Calendars measure time in terms of days, weeks, months, and years. Clocks and calendars are used for tracking biological processes such as setting a time to wake up in the morning or determining when to plant crops. It is essential for clocks and calendars to remain correlated with the earth's actual orientation for proper management of life's biological processes.
Since clocks and calendars are tied to the motion of the Earth, and these motions are somewhat irregular, it becomes necessary from time to time to insert leap seconds, or make other corrections, to keep clocks and calendars in sync with the Earth's actual orientation. As shown in figure 1 above, the Earth's rotational motion (UT) can experience variations on the order of 500 milliseconds per year. The Earth's orbital motion (ET) can experience variations on the order of 40 milliseconds per year. During the 110 year period (1930 AD ... 2040 AD) shown in figure 1, the accumulation of Earth's rotational variations resulted in an increase of Delta T (ET-UT) from less than 25 seconds to more than 70 seconds.
The Bully Row time system (shown on the far right axis in figure 1) is not directly tied to the motions of the Earth, and hence, it is never necessary to insert leap seconds or other corrections into Bully Row timestamps. The Bully Row time system measures elapsed time and can be directly related to International Atomic Time (TAI), which is the passage of elapsed time as measured using atomic clocks.
Timespan described by Bully Row timestamps
A unique hexadecimal twelve digit Bully Row timestamp is realized every 3055 seconds TAI. The universe is currently understood to be less than 13.8 billion years old, which means that there are enough unique Bully Row timestamps to span the entire age of the universe.
Why do we need Bully Row timestamps
It is impossible to predict the exact long term relationship that will exist between elapsed time and wall clock time (which is based on the Earth's orientation). Leap second insertions, along with other clock and calendar corrections, were designed to accommodate for uncertainties in Earth's motion, but since these variations are unpredictable, they can not be pre-programmed into computer hardware or software.
The inability of computers to account for unpredictable variations in Earth's motion has resulted in the creation of multiple time standards. Each standard is a reflection of circumstances that existed during the deployment of a particular system. For example, as shown in figure 1 above, The GPS system was deployed January 6, 1980. At that time, there was a Delta T adjustment (TT-UTC) of more than 51 "leap" seconds. The LORAN-C upgrade, on the other hand, occurred in 1972 when the Delta T adjustment (TT-UTC) was closer to 42 "leap" seconds. The resulting timestamps provided by GPS and LORAN-C differ by nine seconds due to the disparate circumstances under which these systems were deployed. Also, LORAN-C timestamps differ by ten seconds from TAI due to the fact that TAI is based on clocks that were deployed in 1958.
Click on the below links for a comparison of six time standards (local, UTC, GPS, Loran, and TAI):
The unpredictability of leap second insertions is an ongoing source of confusion and expense. Click on the following link for more information:
Realized vs. Estimated Bully Row timestamps
Each Bully Row timestamp is realized exactly 3055 seconds TAI after the previous one. However, since atomic time standards did not exist prior to the 1950's, any assignment of Bully Row timestamps prior to 1958 should be viewed as an estimate of how elapsed time might have transpired in the past, rather than an actual realization of Bully Row time. Bully Row time should only be considered "realized" when time is measured with an accuracy of .
Estimated Bully Time
Bully Row Timeline for the History of the Earth
Realized Bully Time
There have been over 655360 realized Bully Row timestamps (8209 28E4 0000 ... 8209 28EE 0000) during the 66 years of modern atomic time keeping (1958 AD ... 2024 AD). Given the availability of atomic clocks, it is anticipated that Bully Row timestamps will continue to be realized with great regularity for the foreseeable future. Each Bully Row timestamp should be considered "realized" after it occurs and is measured using precise clocks.
To avoid uncertainty, the following table (derived from the Wikipedia "Leap Second" article), lists all leap second insertions that have occurred since the introduction of leap seconds. For each leap second insertion, the below table lists the preceding Bully Row timestamp (that had been "realized" immediately prior to the leap second insertion), and the subsequent Bully Row timestamp (that was "realized" immediately after the leap second insertion).
A few details are worth noting in the table. The TAI and UTC already differed by 10 seconds at the beginning of 1972, so when Bully Row Timestamp 8209 28E5 DFFB was realized, the TAI time was 1972-06-30 23:34:45 TAI, whereas UTC time was 1972-06-30 23:34:35 UTC. An additional 27 leap seconds have been inserted into UTC during the fifty year period between 1972 and 2022, making a total of 37 leap seconds difference, so when Bully Row Timestamp 8209 28EC E3C0 was realized, the TAI time was 2017-01-01 00:32:00 TAI, whereas UTC time was 2017-01-01 00:31:23 UTC. You will also note that Bully Row timestamps are realized during TAI times with a seconds value ending in five or zero. The Bully Row and TAI both measure elapsed time as determined by atomic clocks, so these systems will always have this simple relationship.
| Year | 30 Jun | 31 Dec | Bully Row Timestamp | International Atomic Time (TAI) | Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | +1 | +1 | 8209 28E5 DFFB 8209 28E5 DFFC 8209 28E5 F44F 8209 28E5 F450 |
1972-06-30 23:34:45 TAI 1972-07-01 00:25:40 TAI 1972-12-31 23:45:05 TAI 1973-01-01 00:36:00 TAI |
1972-06-30 23:34:35 UTC 1972-07-01 00:25:29 UTC 1972-12-31 23:44:54 UTC 1973-01-01 00:35:48 UTC |
| 1973 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E6 1CA2 8209 28E6 1CA3 |
1973-12-31 23:57:50 TAI 1974-01-01 00:48:45 TAI |
1973-12-31 23:57:38 UTC 1974-01-01 00:48:32 UTC |
| 1974 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E6 44F4 8209 28E6 44F5 |
1974-12-31 23:19:40 TAI 1975-01-01 00:10:35 TAI |
1974-12-31 23:19:27 UTC 1975-01-01 00:10:21 UTC |
| 1975 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E6 6D47 8209 28E6 6D48 |
1975-12-31 23:32:25 TAI 1976-01-01 00:23:20 TAI |
1975-12-31 23:32:11 UTC 1976-01-01 00:23:05 UTC |
| 1976 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E6 95B6 8209 28E6 95B7 |
1976-12-31 23:30:50 TAI 1977-01-01 00:21:45 TAI |
1976-12-31 23:30:35 UTC 1977-01-01 00:21:29 UTC |
| 1977 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E6 BE09 8209 28E6 BE0A |
1977-12-31 23:43:35 TAI 1978-01-01 00:34:30 TAI |
1977-12-31 23:43:19 UTC 1978-01-01 00:34:13 UTC |
| 1978 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E6 E65C 8209 28E6 E65D |
1978-12-31 23:56:20 TAI 1979-01-01 00:47:15 TAI |
1978-12-31 23:56:03 UTC 1979-01-01 00:46:57 UTC |
| 1979 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E7 0EAE 8209 28E7 0EB0 |
1979-12-31 23:18:10 TAI 1980-01-01 01:00:00 TAI |
1979-12-31 23:17:52 UTC 1980-01-01 00:59:41 UTC |
| 1981 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E7 4B1C 8209 28E7 4B1D |
1981-06-30 23:19:00 TAI 1981-07-01 00:09:55 TAI |
1981-06-30 23:18:41 UTC 1981-07-01 00:09:35 UTC |
| 1982 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E7 736F 8209 28E7 7370 |
1982-06-30 23:31:45 TAI 1982-07-01 00:22:40 TAI |
1982-06-30 23:31:25 UTC 1982-07-01 00:22:19 UTC |
| 1983 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E7 9BC2 8209 28E7 9BC3 |
1983-06-30 23:44:30 TAI 1983-07-01 00:35:25 TAI |
1983-06-30 23:44:09 UTC 1983-07-01 00:35:03 UTC |
| 1985 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E7 EC84 8209 28E7 EC85 |
1985-06-30 23:55:40 TAI 1985-07-01 00:46:35 TAI |
1985-06-30 23:55:18 UTC 1985-07-01 00:46:12 UTC |
| 1987 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E8 517D 8209 28E8 517F |
1987-12-31 23:40:35 TAI 1988-01-01 01:22:25 TAI |
1987-12-31 23:40:12 UTC 1988-01-01 01:22:01 UTC |
| 1989 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E8 A23F 8209 28E8 A240 |
1989-12-31 23:51:45 TAI 1990-01-01 00:42:40 TAI |
1989-12-31 23:51:21 UTC 1990-01-01 00:42:15 UTC |
| 1990 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E8 CA91 8209 28E8 CA92 |
1990-12-31 23:13:35 TAI 1991-01-01 00:04:30 TAI |
1990-12-31 23:13:10 UTC 1991-01-01 00:04:04 UTC |
| 1992 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E9 06FF 8209 28E9 0700 |
1992-06-30 23:14:25 TAI 1992-07-01 00:05:20 TAI |
1992-06-30 23:13:59 UTC 1992-07-01 00:04:53 UTC |
| 1993 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E9 2F52 8209 28E9 2F53 |
1993-06-30 23:27:10 TAI 1993-07-01 00:18:05 TAI |
1993-06-30 23:26:43 UTC 1993-07-01 00:17:37 UTC |
| 1994 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E9 57A5 8209 28E9 57A6 |
1994-06-30 23:39:55 TAI 1994-07-01 00:30:50 TAI |
1994-06-30 23:39:27 UTC 1994-07-01 00:30:21 UTC |
| 1995 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28E9 944B 8209 28E9 944C |
1995-12-31 23:12:05 TAI 1996-01-01 00:03:00 TAI |
1995-12-31 23:11:36 UTC 1996-01-01 00:02:30 UTC |
| 1997 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28E9 D0B9 8209 28E9 D0BA |
1997-06-30 23:12:55 TAI 1997-07-01 00:03:50 TAI |
1997-06-30 23:12:25 UTC 1997-07-01 00:03:19 UTC |
| 1998 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28EA 0D60 8209 28EA 0D61 |
1998-12-31 23:36:00 TAI 1999-01-01 00:26:55 TAI |
1998-12-31 23:35:29 UTC 1999-01-01 00:26:23 UTC |
| 2005 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28EB 27DC 8209 28EB 27DD |
2005-12-31 23:45:40 TAI 2006-01-01 00:36:35 TAI |
2005-12-31 23:45:08 UTC 2006-01-01 00:36:02 UTC |
| 2008 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28EB A0F0 8209 28EB A0F1 |
2008-12-31 23:18:40 TAI 2009-01-01 00:09:35 TAI |
2008-12-31 23:18:07 UTC 2009-01-01 00:09:01 UTC |
| 2012 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28EC 2E04 8209 28EC 2E05 |
2012-06-30 23:45:00 TAI 2012-07-01 00:35:55 TAI |
2012-06-30 23:44:26 UTC 2012-07-01 00:35:20 UTC |
| 2015 | +1 | 0 | 8209 28EC A6FC 8209 28EC A6FD |
2015-06-30 23:32:20 TAI 2015-07-01 00:23:15 TAI |
2015-06-30 23:31:45 UTC 2015-07-01 00:22:39 UTC |
| 2016 | 0 | +1 | 8209 28EC E3BF 8209 28EC E3C0 |
2016-12-31 23:41:05 TAI 2017-01-01 00:32:00 TAI |
2016-12-31 23:40:29 UTC 2017-01-01 00:31:23 UTC |
