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The current Bully timestamp is:
8209 2804 3BA7
Percentage count to next timestamp is: 52%
This page was loaded on: 2025-04-29 13:53:02 (UTC) (Update page)
What is the Bully Timestamp System?
The Bully Timestamp System is an original research project designed with the following objectives in mind:
- A timekeeping system which is sufficiently independent of Earth's motions and orientation, so that "leap" seconds, "leap" years, and other correctional adjustments are not required.
- A timekeeping system which is fundamentally binary and compatible with computer architecture.
- A timekeeping system with enough scope to uniquely and unambiguously identify each point in time, beginning with the Big Bang, and continuing into the foreseeable future.
- A timekeeping system with a built-in mnemonic device, to promote education and understanding.
The Bully Timestamp System 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 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 Timestamp System measures elapsed time in terms of Bully timestamps (shown on the far right axis in figure 1). Bully timestamps are not directly tied to the motions of the Earth, and hence, it is never necessary to insert leap seconds or other corrections into Bully timestamps. The Bully Timestamp System can be directly related to International Atomic Time (TAI), which is the passage of elapsed time as measured using atomic clocks.
Time span covered by Bully timestamps
A unique hexadecimal twelve digit Bully 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 timestamps to span the entire age of the universe.
The Bully Mnemonic
The Bully Mnemonic is a technique for remembering the exact number of seconds that occur in Earth's sidereal year, and the approximate relationship that exists between Earth's sidereal year, Earth's tropical Year, Earth's Great Year, and the Solar System's galactic year. Click on the following link to learn more about the Bully Mnemonic and the role it plays as the mathematical foundation of Bully timestamps.
Why do we need Bully timestamps?
The inability of computers to predict long term 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 was 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 timestamps
Each Bully 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 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 timestamps. Bully timestamps should only be considered "realized" when time is measured with an accuracy of .
Estimated Bully timestamps
Bully Row Timeline for the History of the Earth
Realized Bully timestamps
There have been over 655360 realized Bully timestamps (8209 27F9 0000 ... 8209 2804 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 timestamps will continue to be realized with great regularity for the foreseeable future. Each Bully timestamp should be considered "realized" after it occurs and is measured using precise clocks.
To avoid uncertainty, the following table
| Bully Timestamps International Atomic Time (TAI) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) |
(ΔTAI - ΔUTC) | Accumulative Leap |
|---|---|---|
| 8209 27F9 9F04 . . . 8209 27F9 EFAA 1957-12-31 23:13:00.000 TAI . . . 1959-12-31 23:38:30.000 TAI 1957-12-31 23:13:00.003 UTC . . . 1959-12-31 23:38:29.057 UTC |
0.946 sec | 0.943 |
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 timestamp (that had been "realized" immediately prior to the leap second insertion), and the subsequent Bully 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 Timestamp 8209 27FB E7FB 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 2802 EBC0 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 27FB E7FB 8209 27FB E7FC 8209 27FB FC4F 8209 27FB FC50 |
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 27FC 24A2 8209 27FC 24A3 |
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 27FC 4CF4 8209 27FC 4CF5 |
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 27FC 7547 8209 27FC 7548 |
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 27FC 9DB6 8209 27FC 9DB7 |
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 27FC C609 8209 27FC C60A |
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 27FC EE5C 8209 27FC EE5D |
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 27FD 16AE 8209 27FD 16AF |
1979-12-31 23:18:10 TAI 1980-01-01 00:09:05 TAI |
1979-12-31 23:17:52 UTC 1980-01-01 00:08:46 UTC |
| 1981 | +1 | 0 | 8209 27FD 531C 8209 27FD 531D |
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 27FD 7B6F 8209 27FD 7B70 |
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 27FD A3C2 8209 27FD A3C3 |
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 27FD F484 8209 27FD F485 |
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 27FE 597D 8209 27FE 597E |
1987-12-31 23:40:35 TAI 1988-01-01 00:31:30 TAI |
1987-12-31 23:40:12 UTC 1988-01-01 00:31:06 UTC |
| 1989 | 0 | +1 | 8209 27FE AA3F 8209 27FE AA40 |
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 27FE D291 8209 27FE D292 |
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 27FF 0EFF 8209 27FF 0F00 |
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 27FF 3752 8209 27FF 3753 |
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 27FF 5FA5 8209 27FF 5FA6 |
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 27FF 9C4B 8209 27FF 9C4C |
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 27FF D8B9 8209 27FF D8BA |
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 2800 1560 8209 2800 1561 |
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 2801 2FDC 8209 2801 2FDD |
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 2801 A8F0 8209 2801 A8F1 |
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 2802 3604 8209 2802 3605 |
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 2802 AEFC 8209 2802 AEFD |
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 2802 EBBF 8209 2802 EBC0 |
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 |
Bully Timestamp Implementations
JavaScript Implementation</includeonly>
JavaScript Implementation (github)</includeonly>
JavaScript Source Code (github)</includeonly>
