Centon

A centon is a Colonial measurement of time.

The term is analogous to a minute. The plural form is "centons."

One (1) centon is equal to one hundred (100) microns.

Episode usage

• In "Murder on the Rising Star", Boomer uses the phrase "Just a centon," the Colonial equivalent of "Just a minute."

• In "Saga of a Star World", it appears that centon meant something closer to a week (secton came into use as the Colonial equivalent for week in "The Living Legend, Part I"). In the pilot, Apollo tells the Quorum of the Twelve that the intended route to Carillon would "tak us centons of our way." The use of two other time units - millicenton and microcenton - seem to be based off of this original definition of the centon as a week, especially when considering the metric prefixes of "milli" (thousandth) and "micro" (millionth). Both terms are used almost exclusively in the first two episodes.

• Beginning with "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I", use of the term centon is consistent in the series. In it, Lucifer tells Baltar that the outpost is 1.5 hectares from Galactica and that they could catch the battlestar at light speed "within a centon." According to the Writer's Guide, a hectar is 9 million miles, or roughly a light minute.

See also

• List of terms (TOS)

Original Series definition: a unit of time akin to a "minute"; in earlier episodes (e.g. "Saga of a Star World," "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I"), centon is used as the Colonial equivalent of a week before being retconned in later episodes

Original Series definition: a unit of distance, the Earth measurement being equivalent to a kilometer

Original Series definition: a unit of distance, the Earth measurement being equivalent to 9 million miles (i.e. 1/10th of a parsec)