Stardates Explained - 20120219.1209

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20120219.1209

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2012 02 19 . 12 09

That better?

20120219 means 19th February 2012, and 1209 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 12:09PM

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