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The unit of measurement of distance between worlds is the Parsec (Pc). This is the distance travelled by light in approximately 3.25 years, or 19,000,000,000,000 miles or roughly 30,000,000,000,000 kilometres.
Colonised human space is approximately 400 parsecs across.
Time
The stardate system works on a 24-hour day (all ships use the 24-hour
day clock - mainly because it is natural for humans, and also it makes
setting duty rosters easier). Local planetary time is used when planetside
- so sometimes there is a 'space-lag' adjustment for travellers arriving
on a planet with a different diurnal pattern.
The Star Year is made up of 400 days. There are no months or weeks - (although some cultures still use the term month (meaning a period of 30 days) and week (meaning a period of 7 days) for ease of reference and because of traditional habits. Again, local planetary days and years will vary, but anyone indulging in interstellar trade or politics will invariably use the StarDate calendar.
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