Maxwell S.

asked • 06/08/17

if the year had 1000 days , and each 1 day was equal to 3 to 4 days . how many weeks and months would be in a year ? is that a valid question ?

if the year on planet x had 1000 days, and each 1 day was equal to 3 to 4 earth days .
how many weeks and months would be in a year? 
should months and weeks be redefined as well?
is that a valid question?

Philip P.

The "day" and "year" have an astronomical meaning on every planet.  Not so for week and month.  On Earth, a "month" is roughly equivalent to the amount time it takes the moon to complete one orbit around the earth - known a s a lunar month, it is 29.5 days long.  There are 12.37 lunar months in a year.  Hence the division of a year into 12 months.  A week is just 1/4 of a lunar month (roughly).  Planet X may have no moons or multiple moons, so the concept of a lunar month may not be meaningful.  Even if it has only one moon like Earth, the Planet X lunar month will have a different duration than the Earth's lunar month.  So the division of time into weeks and months here on Earth may not translate to Planet X.
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06/08/17

Maxwell S.

thank you for explaining so marvelously
what if we were to add 2 moons, one bigger than the other, or closer than the other.
im trying to understand how many days on planet x has to go by in order for a week or month or year to be complete.
 
im absolutely open for any suggestions.
 
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06/09/17

Philip P.

Intelligent Beings on planet X may choose to subdivide their year.  If Planet X's axis of rotation is tilted wrt its orbital plane, then Planet X will have 4 season as we do on Earth, with the length of day varying by season.  The beings could measure the solar equinoxes and solstices and divide their year into 4 seasons.  If Planet X has moons that have periodic behavior, then they may also subdivide to correlate with the lunar events.  Such subdivisions may have no correlation to a lunar month or week here on Earth.  Remember that a week has no celestial significance; it is just roughly 1/4 of a lunar month.
 
If you are asking how to translate an Earth month and week to Planet X's calendar time, then you need a conversion factor, such as one Planet X day = 3.5 Earth days.  A Planet X year, at 1000 Planet X days long, would be (1000/365)*3.5 = 9.6 Earth years.  If you divide the Planet X year into 12 "months", each planet X month = 9.65 Earth months (or 1 Earth month = 1/9.65 Planet X months). A "week" on Planet X = 9.65 earth weeks.
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06/09/17

Philip P.

Note, the length of a day doesn't vary, it is the amount of daylight that varies with the seasons ...
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06/09/17

Maxwell S.

THANK YOU.
for some reason, i can't choose your answer as the answer!
i still haven't figured out completely what you said on the second part but thanks, i will think on it until i get it.
you're a genius
 
by periodic behavior do you mean the phases of the moon? 
while we are on the subject if the there is a planetwide 500 nights continuously and 500 continuous days after that, can such a thing be possible?
for example if one of the moons was in such an orbit that it blocked the light of the star for half a year every year.
 
only the problem with that is, after 500 nights, the 500 days will ALSO have nights due to rotation of the planet x .
and im not sure if vibrant life would be possible with such a planet
 
thank you for your time. youre the best
 
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06/09/17

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