Stardates Explained - 20180924.1700

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20180924.1700

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2018 09 24 . 17 00

That better?

20180924 means 24th September 2018, and 1700 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 5:00PM

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

Events on this stardate