Stardates Explained - 20090301.1437

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20090301.1437

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2009 03 01 . 14 37

That better?

20090301 means 1st March 2009, and 1437 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 2:37PM

Stardates in the Star Trek universe work in an entirely different way. Wikipedia has a good explanation on how Stardates work.