The average non-traveling citizen spends his every day in his hometown, hearing the words “time zone” only on the 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 Vladivostok. “Why? - the inexperienced reader will ask. “After all, it would be convenient in economic life.”
Hearing that Moscow is 11 o’clock, and in Vladivostok it’s 18, he, without even thinking how many time zones are in Russia, will say to himself: “It’s lucky, but I have almost a day to work!”
However, seriously speaking, it matters for the country's economy, for coordinating the work of ministries, departments, and when planning business trips.
Modern numbering. Coordinated Universal Time
People who decide to figure out time zones are sometimes confused by the presence of the standard English abbreviation “UTC”. What does it mean?
The most important task of astronomical and geodetic research is to determine the average 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. A sunny day is systematically unstable due to the instability of the planet’s rotation in orbit and because of the inclination of the Earth’s axis relative to its orbit around the Sun. In view of the above, the Greenwich time is adjusted accordingly, and the adjusted is called “universal coordinated time” (abbreviated in the English translation as UTC). This innovation has been around the world since 1970.
How time was measured in the Russian Empire
How was time calculated in Russia? The initial premise was the actual illumination by the Sun (respectively, daytime) for individual areas of the earth's surface. Illumination occurs, as you know, sequentially - from east to west, along the rotation of the Earth itself as a planet.
Before the revolution, the Russians were guided by local solar time, calculated in the provinces according to 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 “your own” zero meridian - Pulkovsky (passing through the Pulkovo Observatory).
TP = T0 + 2 h 1 min 18.7 sec, where TP - single St. Petersburg time; T0 is Greenwich time.
For a more complete orientation of the readers, we will inform you that he partially passed along Moskovsky Avenue and part of the Pulkovo Chasse (St. Petersburg), through the center of the city of Mogilev, the Zhuliany district of Kiev.
Greenwich Meridian - Universal Countdown
It is noteworthy that time zones in Russia in cities up to 1920 were tied to the Pulkovo Meridian. The whole point is the advisory nature of the decision of the Washington Meridional Conference of 1884: to accept the Greenwich Meridian for all countries as zero. By the way, it passes along the axis of the passive instrument of the laboratory of the same name (Greenwich Peninsula, Britain) through France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana.
Time zone concept
What is the first time zone in Russia? Obviously, Kaliningrad (but according to international classification, it is the third). When talking about the time zone, then this can mean two values at once. The first is a geographical time zone, another “watermelon piece” of the earth’s surface with a width of 15
0 , taking into account the fact that the very first, zero, is “cut” ± 7.5
0 , respectively, to the left and right of the Greenwich meridian. The second is the administrative time zone. Why administrative? Yes, because in a certain administrative region, which does not always coincide with the geographical time zone, a certain
local time is legally established
. We continue our reasoning. Consider how many time zones are in Russia.
The fifth part of sushi. Time Zones
Imagine them "by name." All of them are designated, according to the universal coordinated time system, as UTC: from the third time zone to the twelfth inclusive. In parallel, she is shown the "internal", Russian system of Moscow time - MSK. It actually takes the time zone zero, where the capital of Russia, Moscow, is located. Everything that is west of it is counted with a “-” sign, which is east - “+”
- 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 also be understood as an answer to the question: "How many time zones are in Russia?" On the fifth part of the land since March 28, 2010, there are nine time zones.
It was 11, but it became 9. How?
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 chintz." Next came up optimization ideas. “The process has begun”, starting with the appeal of President Dmitry Medvedev to the Federal Assembly on 12/12/2009.
He proposed reducing the number of time zones, as well as abandoning the switch to winter and summer time to improve economic management. The corresponding work was carried out and the Federal Law “On the calculation of time” was adopted. In fact, he explained to the population how many time zones in Russia will be in the future.
An example of correlation of time in Russian time zones
We will illustrate how the time zones of Russia “work” in cities. Let's say in the Moscow time zone 22-00. What time is it in others? The Kaliningrad time zone will be fixed at 21-00, Yekaterinburg - 0-00, Omsk - 1-00 (next day), Krasnoyarsk - 2-00, Irkutsk - 3-00, Yakutsky - 4-00, Vladivostok - 5-00, Magadan - 6-00.
Output
The modern dynamic life of Russia has led to a decrease in the number of time zones from 11 to 9. (Recall that the previous scheme has existed unceasingly since Vladimir Ilyich Lenin signed the decree “On the introduction of a new time account ...” on 08.02.1919. Its main developer was the president of the Russian Geographical Society . M. Shokalsky).
The latest changes have been brought about by centralization and optimization of state governance. A more time-consuming leadership cycle in a centralized economy, of course, potentially has a positive effect. The “four-hour” (3rd time zone) disappeared, the “two-hour leap in time” took place.
However, there are critics of this innovation. They think the question is how many hours. Belts in Russia are really in demand, the population should decide to a greater extent.