Moon Time

The moon rises behind the Home Place clock tower June 2013 in Prattville, Ala. NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own clock.

 Dave Martin/The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own souped-up clock.

It’s not quite a time zone like those on Earth, but an entire frame of time reference for the moon. Because there’s less gravity on the moon, time there moves a tad quicker — 58.7 microseconds every day — compared to Earth. So the White House Tuesday instructed NASA and other U.S agencies to work with international agencies to come up with a new moon-centric time reference system.

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