Epoch

The word epoch can mean either an interval of time, or a particular point in time used as a reference point.

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• In common usage, the term is often used to apply to a period of time when significant related events took place. Synonyms include historical period and era (links are to disambiguation pages).
• In geology, the recent (to the geologist) past is divided into a series of epochs of a few million years each. See geologic timescale.
• In computing and telecommunications, an epoch date is a specific date and time used as the reference for all other times. The Unix epoch is an example.
• In astronomy, an epoch (astronomy) is a moment in time for which celestial coordinates or orbital elements are specified. The current standard epoch is J2000.0
• In the case of celestial coordinates, the position at other times can be computed by taking into account precession and proper motion.
• In the case of orbital elements, it is necessary to take account of perturbation by other bodies in order to calculate the orbital elements for a different time.
• The epoch of a calendar era is the year, day, or instant from which the later (and earlier) years of a calendar are counted.
• The Epoch was a vehicle capable of time travel in the popular SNES game, Chrono Trigger. When the player first discovers Epoch, it is only capable of time travel to the exact same physical point in a different era. Later in the game, however, Dalton modifies it with wings, enabling the player to fly around the world map.
• Epoch is also the name of a Japanese video game company. They released consoles in the early and mid 1980s