Now as a long time fan of the scenery that Bungie has created, we can all appreciate the attention to detail across the planets that we traverse. For example, the pools on Venus have the correct sulphur reactions on the lava that turn it blue, (a phenomenon that does occur) and the orbital correctness of the Moons not only for earth but also across the board. After sitting in the Cosmodrome for hours watching the world go by, we are lacking some vital features that have now become a pet peeve to me. We have time in Destiny, but what time actually is it? So I decided to sit down and do the maths, even though it was pretty much a stab in the dark, I think I may have figured it out in the end. So although the time in Destiny is relatively faster, it is still possible to work out the dates and time in destiny to the closest year and even to the date. "The earth cycle is 1 hour long. No word yet on the other planets, but I suspect it will be the same. There's little to be gained from changing it." (Colmarr: Reddit 2014) After watching several time lapses this did indeed seem to be the case, so we can take this as pretty valid Going on this principle for simplicity, if our term of a day is approximately an hour, an average year in Destiny would calculate to 365 hours per year within destiny. After scouring the Internet for an actual start date I was able to find a link to an interview with Jason Jones discussing the arrival of the traveller. In this he states “A few years from today, our present, this alien intelligence, the Traveller, comes to Earth, and we don’t know a lot, we don’t remember a lot about this time, but we know a few things that are to survive.” Now descriptions of Destiny have it set 700 years in the future, leaving us at the year 2716AD if the Traveller is to arrive next year (Fingers crossed Guardians). So using this as a base line, it is fair to presume the traveller arrived around September 14th 2016AD So starting from the 14th of September 2716AD we are able to calculate the exact moment of time that we would be at now, taken from 24th of July 2015 00:00 GMT (time of writing). So working out the time between now and the release of Destiny (excluding alpha and beta) leaves us with 7608 hours (14th of September 2014 00:00 GMT), translating to 20 years, 10 months,and 2 days. (Accounting for the current leap years during this period). [u]The Maths behind this went as followed:[/u] [b]• 317 days since Destiny’s release • 317 days = 7608 hours • 7608 hours = 20 years 10 months and 2 days (5 leaps years – from total) Destiny time • Destiny Start date 14th of September 2716AD + time passed = 11th of July 2737AD • (Destiny Start Date[2716] + Number of Hours[Days] = Date of event)[/b] So the current date from 00:00 GMT 24rd of July 2015 is equal to 11th of July 2737AD 00:00 GMT in Destiny time. Leaving us at 11/7/2737 give or take a few hours. (Possibly days now) With these events in place, we can now start to place certain events on a new timeline that has more accurate numbers than just centuries, something found currently on all of the destiny timelines. Crota’s Arrival and defeat was one of the key moments of the game for most of us. Our Fireteams pushed back the darkness and slayed the prince with his own sword. With the release of The Dark Below: 92 days passed between the release of Destiny to the first expansion. This translates to 2208 hours (Destiny Days) leaving the event to take place 6 years, 2 weeks and 5 days (accounting for the leap year) after our first awakening. This leaves plenty of time for the Hive to gather their forces and makes it a viable period to allow Crota to gain strength. Putting the date at the 5th of October 2722AD I will return to this date shortly, to be able to work out how long it has taken Oryx to arrive, but first we have to address the issue with Skolas’ escape. Our second adventure was released 161 days after Crota’s events take place, meaning 3864 hours have taken place. This translates to 10 years, 6months, 3 weeks and 4 days. Leaving us to suspect the events of Skolas take place within the 2nd of October 2732 (accounting for leap years again). Now with the fastest team to beat Skolas in 14 hours, that would translate to 14 destiny days, that is a pretty realistic timeframe to make our efforts a true series of events. Now, back to Oryx our next encounter. Since the events of Crota, 208 earth days have passed, leaving a total of 6720 destiny days. This works out at about 18 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 5 days (leap years for the last time) leaving Oryx’s arrival at the 3rd of February 2741AD. This means that either Oryx has either been really late to either finding out about his son, or has taken a lot of thought and care into how he plans to at least attempt to destroy our solar system. [u]Major Events[/u] [b]14th of September 2716AD;We awaken and the Dinklebot alarm clock is invented. 5th of October 2722AD;Crota attempts to impress daddy by taking over earth… doesn’t even make it back to put his work on the fridge. 2nd of October 2732AD;Skolas’ escapes and causes an uproar for a couple of weeks, guardians end up on the streets begging for weapon parts to rereoll their Meta’s. 3rd of February 2741AD;Oryx arrives, Guardians look to the old codex’s to try and figure out how we can tailor his “A** like a hat”[/b] ([i]I am not even going to attempt the events of the Vault of Glass [or any Vex event] due to it being either infinite or non-existent[/i]) So over those twenty odd years, the earth in all its wonders has some major astrological events that occur, mainly the solar eclipse. This year alone we were lucky enough to witness a total solar eclipse. This got me thinking about why it would then be possible to work out how many of these events could occur within Destiny. The basic idea would be to have these as an almost Easter egg type scenario, something you would rarely see. They would just be pleasant if you were lucky enough to catch them at the right time and place. Since we can only take Russia as a point of reference, using Nasa’s Eclipse data I was able to calculate how many eclipses we have already missed during our time on Destiny. With Co-ordinates found within the arms and armaments guide, I was able to find out that the first patrol zone of Old Russia might be within the region of Outer Manchuria. Using the Co-ordinates: [b]45.9650° N 63.3050° E [/b] placing it around the Vostochny Cosmodrome (Russian: Космодром Восточный Kosmodrom Vostochny "Eastern Spaceport") the Russian spaceport currently under construction on the 51st parallel north in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian Far East and Outer Manchuria. (God bless Wikipedia) In total though, in the 28th Century the earth will experience a total of 242 eclipses, and even though our time in destiny at the moment is merely a fraction of this, we are still missing out. [u]Eclipses missed[/u] [b]• The total number of events during this our time on Destiny is 28 (A small number considering the number of days the game has been release.) • 13/28 of the events would be simple partial eclipses that would be able to mildly effect the environment and would be only notable for a few fractions of a second relative to Destiny Time. • Of these 28 events, 12 of them would be a total eclipse, that would cause total between 50-90% coverage of the sun with a similar time frame • The Co-ordinates for Russia are 45.9650° N, 63.3050° E • Using these of the 12 total Eclipses only 2 of these fall into the latitude of Russia, and a possible other one may be able to depending on the location of old Russia[/b] So a total of one of these beautiful moments may have been able to occur during our time so far in destiny, and relative to Destiny time the moment of darkness would be so brief, many of us would have missed it. So picture this fraction of a moment that you could say you were there for, a moment that would be so hard to capture but with enough time could be calculated and enjoyed. Earth’s patrol would become a social space for that brief moment and guardians could share their experience with others to then allow the next eclipse watch even bigger and so on… Maybe this is simply an unrealistic dream. I am no game developer, and have no solid concept of how time and scenery work within Destiny, but I enjoy it. Every time I land my Jumpship, I have the feeling that I’m landing on a planet, ready to explore the land that hold the landscapes I still enjoy after all this time. But Bungie, a small feature like this may exceed limits; but imagine the amazing moment it would cause for all those lucky enough to witness something like that? After all this time working out maths and researching eclipses I have really invested into this idea now so would love to hear the communities take on this idea? Hopefully one day we can really start to say: “Eyes to the skies guardians” with meaning. "The earth has the best seat in the solar system to see an amazing event, all thanks to our little moon. The sun is around four hundred times the diameter of the moon and by shear coincidence it’s four hundred times further than earth, causing a total perfect eclipse." (Cox: 2011 Wonders of the Solar System) [b]TLDR:[/b] As of today the date in Destiny (Approximately if my data is correct) is the 11th of July 2737AD GMT 00:00. This is also the The first day of Naadam, also known as Revolution Day (Mongolia). Happy Revolution Day Guardians!