How many time zones in Russia and what time in each of them

Every day, an average non-traveling citizen spends in his native city, 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, which is obvious, can not be the same in both Moscow and Vladivostok. "Why not?" An inexperienced reader will ask. "After all, it would be convenient in economic life."

Hearing that in Moscow 11 hours, and in Vladivostok - 18, he, without even hesitation, how many time zones in Russia, will note to himself: "It's lucky, but I have almost a day to work!"

However, seriously speaking, this is important for the country's economy, for coordinating the work of ministries, departments, when planning trips.

Modern numbering. Universal Coordinated Time

People who decide to understand the 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 mean solar time. According to the definition, this is the apparent trajectory of the movement of our main luminary in the sky. The highest position of the Sun is called the astronomical noon. The solar day is systematically unstable due to the instability of the planet's rotation along the orbit and because of the inclination of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. In view of the above, Greenwich time is accordingly adjusted, and the adjusted one is called "universal coordinated time" (abbreviated in English translation - UTC). This innovation has been operating in the world since 1970.

How time was measured in the Russian Empire

How did they calculate the time in Russia? The initial premise was the actual illumination by the Sun (correspondingly, daytime) for individual areas of the earth's surface. Lighting occurs, as is known, sequentially - from east to west, along the course of the Earth's rotation as a planet.

Russians before the revolution were guided by local solar time, calculated in the provinces according to an uncomplicated formula:

M = T0 + Δ, where

M - local solar time;

T0 is the Greenwich time;

Δ is the geographical longitude obtained by recalculating from degrees in hours and minutes of time.

Further, after the construction of the main railways, starting in 1840, the zero meridian - Pulkovskiy (passing through the Pulkovo Observatory) became the point of reference .

TP = T0 + 2 h 1 min 18.7 sec, where TP is a single St. Petersburg time; T0 is the Greenwich time.

For a more complete orientation of the readers, we will inform you that it partially passed along the Moscow Avenue and part of the Pulkovo Chasse (St. Petersburg), through the center of the city of Mogilev, Zhulyany district of Kiev.

Greenwich Meridian - Universal Countdown

It is noteworthy that the time zones in Russia in cities up until 1920 were tied to the Pulkovo meridian. The matter is in the advisory character of the decision of the Washington Meridional Conference of 1884: to accept for all countries as the zero Greenwich meridian. By the way, it passes through 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.

The notion of time zone

What time zone in Russia can be called the first? Obviously, Kaliningrad (but according to the international classification it is the third one). When talking about the time zone, then by this can mean at once two values. The first is the geographical time zone, another "watermelon piece" of the earth's surface 15 ⁰ wide, 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 time zone is legislatively established . Let's continue our reasoning. Consider how many time zones in Russia.

The fifth part of the land. Time Zones

Imagine them by their names. 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, it shows the "internal", the Russian system of Moscow time - MSK. It actually accepts the zero time zone where the capital of Russia is located, Moscow. Everything that is to the west of it is measured with the sign "-", that to the east - "+"

- The Kaliningrad time. Designation: UTC + 3 (MSK-1);

- Moscow time. Designation: UTC + 4 (MSK);

- Ekaterinburg 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);

- The 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 in Russia?". On the fifth part of the land since 28.03.2010 there are nine time zones.

It was 11, and it was 9. How?

In the beginning, according to the Greenwich system, there were 11 time zones in Russia. 171 degrees 21 seconds - this is the length of the "country of birch chintz". Then came the idea of optimization. "The process has started," beginning with the address of President Dmitry Medvedev to the Federal Assembly on November 12, 2009. He proposed to reduce the number of time zones, as well as to abandon the transition to winter and summer time to improve the management of the economy. The corresponding work was carried out and the Federal Law "On the calculation of time" was adopted. He, in fact, explained to the population how many time zones in Russia will be in the future.

Example of time correlation by time zones of Russia

Let's illustrate how the time zones of Russia work in cities. Suppose, in the Moscow time zone 22-00. How much time in others? The Kaliningrad time zone will record 21-00, Yekaterinburg - 0-00, Omsk - 1-00 (next day), Krasnoyarsk - 2-00, Irkutsk - 3-00, Yakutsk - 4-00, Vladivostok - 5-00, Magadan - 6-00.

Conclusion

The modern dynamic life of Russia caused a reduction in the number of time zones from 11 to 9. (Recall that the previous scheme invariably existed with the signing by Vladimir Ilich Lenin of the decree "On the introduction of a new time account ..." 08.02.1919. Its main developer was the president of the Russian Geographical Society Yu M. Shokalsky).

The last changes were brought about by the centralization and optimization of state governance. A more concise cycle of managerial work 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 believe that the question of how many hours. Belts in Russia is indeed in demand, the population should decide to a greater extent.