Every day is averageA non-traveling citizen spends the words “time zone” in his hometown only by radio when Moscow broadcasts the exact time. In this article we will try to present the time zones of Russia. Time, obviously, cannot be the same in Moscow and in Vladivostok. “Why? - Asks an inexperienced reader. “After all, it would be convenient in economic life.”
When he heard that it was 11 o'clock in Moscow and 18 o'clock in Vladivostok, he, without even thinking about how many time zones in Russia, would say to himself: “It’s lucky, but I still have almost a day to work!”
However, if to speak seriously, it matters for the country's economy, for coordinating the work of ministries, departments, in planning business trips.
People who decide to understand time zones are sometimes embarrassed by the standard English abbreviation "UTC". What does it mean?
The most important task of astronomical and geodesicResearch is the definition of mean solar time. According to the definition, this is the visible trajectory of the movement of our main body in the sky. The highest position of the sun is called astronomical noon. The solar day is systematically unstable due to the instability of the rotation of the planet in its orbit and due to the inclination of the Earth’s axis relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. In view of the foregoing, the Greenwich time is adjusted accordingly, and the adjusted one is called the “universal coordinated time” (abbreviated in English translation - UTC). This innovation operates in the world since 1970.
How was time calculated in Russia?The initial premise was the actual illumination by the Sun (respectively, daytime) for certain areas of the earth's surface. Illumination takes place, as is known, in succession - from east to west, in the course of the rotation of the Earth itself as a planet.
The Russians, before the revolution, were guided by local solar time, calculated in the provinces using a simple formula:
M = T0 + Δ, where
M - local solar time;
T0 - Greenwich time;
Δ is the geographical longitude obtained in terms of degrees in hours and minutes of time.
Further, after the construction of the main railways, starting in 1840, the starting point was “one's own” zero meridian - Pulkovo (passing through the Pulkovo Observatory).
TP = T0 + 2 h 1 min 18.7 sec, where TP is the unified Petersburg time; T0 - Greenwich time.
For a more complete orientation, readers will be informed that it partially passed along Moskovsky Prospect and parts of the Pulkovsky Chasse (St. Petersburg), through the center of the city of Mogilyov, the Zhulyany district of Kiev.
It is noteworthy that the time zones in Russia arecities until 1920 were tied to the Pulkovo meridian. It is all a matter of the recommendatory character of the decision of the Washington Meridional Conference of 1884: to accept the Greenwich meridian for all countries as the zero. By the way, it passes along the axis of the transit instrument of the laboratory of the same name (Greenwich Peninsula, Britain) through France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana.
Imagine them "by name."All of them are designated, according to the system of universal coordinated time, as UTC: from the third time zone to the twelfth inclusive. In parallel, she is shown the "internal", the Russian system of Moscow time - MSK. It actually takes the zero time zone, where the capital of Russia is located, Moscow. Everything that is to the west of it is counted with a “-” sign, that to the east is “+”
- Kaliningrad time. Designation: UTC + 3 (MSK-1);
- Moscow time. Designation: UTC + 4 (MSK);
- Yekaterinburg time. Designation: UTC + 6 (MSK + 2);
- Omsk time. Designation: UTC + 7 (MSK + 3);
- Krasnoyarsk time. Designation: UTC + 8 (MSK + 4);
- Irkutsk time. Designation: UTC + 9 (MSK + 5);
- Yakut time. Designation: UTC + 10 (MSK + 6);
- Vladivostok time. Designation: UTC + 11 (MSK + 7);
- Magadan time. Designation: UTC + 12 (MSK + 8).
The above list should be simultaneously understood as an answer to the question: “How many time zones are there in Russia?”. Since March 28, 2010, there are nine time zones in the fifth part of the land.
Initially, in accordance with the Greenwich system,Russia had 11 time zones. 171 degrees 21 seconds - this is the length of the "country of birch calico". Next came the ideas of optimization. The process has begun, starting with the address of President Dmitry Medvedev to the Federal Assembly on 12.11.2009
We illustrate how time zones “work”.Russia by city. For example, in the Moscow time zone 22-00. What time is it in others? Kaliningrad time zone will record 21-00, Yekaterinburg - 0-00, Omsky - 1-00 (next day), Krasnoyarsky - 2-00, Irkutsky - 3-00, Yakutsky - 4-00, Vladivostok - 5-00, Magadansky - 6-00.
Современная динамичная жизнь России обусловила a decrease in the number of time zones from 11 to 9. (Recall that the previous scheme had existed since the signing of the decree “On the introduction of a new time counting ...” signed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on February 8, 1919. Its main developer was the President of the Russian Geographical Society Yu. M. Shokalsky) .
The recent changes were led by centralization andoptimization of state management. A shorter time cycle of leadership in a centralized economy, of course, potentially has a positive effect. The “four-hour” (3rd time zone) disappeared, a “two-hour jump in time” took place.
However, there are critics of this innovation. They consider the question of how many hours. Belts in Russia is really in demand, the population should decide to a greater extent.
