It is the standard when it comes to measuring time around the world originating from the GMT, or the Greenwich Mean Time, which used to be the only time standard measured at the Greenwich Meridian (0 longitude), UTC now defines the „zero hour“ time standard and is commonly mistaken for GMT which is a time zone rather than a time standard. UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time. And if you’re after some fun time zone facts, make sure to read the entire page – we’ve listed some weird and wonderful time zone facts at the bottom of the post. It gets even more confusing knowing that the North and the South Poles have no time zones at all, and astronauts follow the GMT regardless of where they are… So let’s start at the beginning and explain what time zones are, what UTC is, and what it is used for, and then analyze the EST time zone which covers several countries and major cities in the Americas. In fact, most people erroneously believe they are in the UTC time zone when they are really in the GMT time zone. However, most people don’t know exactly what a time zone is, and they may not know what UTC is, either. To make things simple, all time zones are defined by the Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC), which is a time standard.

So what are time zones, how are they set, and how is time calculated around the world? Because of this fact, time zones usually follow the boundaries of countries or regions (although there are curious exceptions to this). Truth be told, it is very helpful for countries and people who do business together and who conduct all sorts of other activities together to keep the same time. To keep track of time around the planet, countries adhere to certain time zones. Time zones were set to determine noon around the world because of the Earth’s rotation, noon comes at different times in different places around the world. Sounds crazy, right? However, time zones have been created for a wide variety of social, legal, and commercial reasons.

By contrast, if you’re flying to Tokyo or Vladivostok, you’re catching up with tomorrow, as Japan and Russia are eleven time zones ahead of Europe. It’s weird to think that you can, quite literally, travel in time: if you’re leaving Paris or London and heading to Phoenix or San Francisco, you’ll arrive earlier than you’ve left. If you have ever traveled internationally, you’re probably familiar with the confusing effects of jetlag and the adaptation to a different time in another country.

Gmt time zone to eastern