How long is a year on Asgard?

Question

I was searching for an answer for this question and it got me thinking: What if a year on Asgard is longer than a year on Midgard?

Thor and Loki can be same Asgard age but born God knows how many of Midgard years apart. The Asgard Wiki says that Asgard is a small, planetary body. It is about the size of a small state. It is not round like the Earth, does not spin on its axis, and does not revolve around a star.

My question is how do Asgardians tell passage of time and how long is a year on Asgard, compared to the rest of the universe?

Answer 1

A year is a year is a year (in the MCU at least)

In Thor: Ragnarok, we see "year" referenced several times to multiple beings without any clarification as to what frame of reference was being used. But perhaps the most telling was from the Grandmaster himself:

"Time works real different around these parts. On any other world I would be millions of years old but here on Sakaar..."

(source: "Thor: Ragnarok" quotes)

If years were relative, there'd no point in comparing to it as an absolute unit (or saying "on any other world"). Likewise when Thor tells Banner that he's been gone for a few years, and to Surtur that he thought Odin had killed him "like, half a million years ago".

As to what frame of reference is being used, the obvious answer seems to be Midgard. All the references to "year" given to humans match up with the Earth year, and with Asgard's general interest in Midgard as well as a lack of their own "year" (like you mentioned, no orbit), this would make sense. This is supported by Volstagg in the original Thor movie, first in a conversation with Sif (an Asgardian):

VOLSTAGG (CONT'D)
    Is it just me, or does Earth look a
    little different to you?

SIF
    It has been a thousand years...

And then later with Jane (a human):

VOLSTAGG (CONT'D)
    Well, perhaps I've put on a little
    more muscle since I was here last.

JANE 
    That would have been a thousand 
    years ago? Northern Europe? 

(source: "Thor" script)

As far as how they tell the year, I'd argue that they do it the same way we do: technologically. We used to tell years by revolutions of the Earth around the sun, but there came a point where we learned how to measure it by other means (such as atomic clocks). Given their advanced technology, it seems likely that they would do the same.

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One other possible interpretation though, is that it's "translated" for the audience's sake. Maybe they give something in one of their units, but it's just shown to us, the viewer, in an understandable conversion. This is particularly common as an explanation in some media for why alien species all speak English (although in the MCU, most of them do seem to speak English, since humans can understand them).

Answer 2

This is my first time responding here!

From what I've found, in Thor, when speaking to Odin, he clarifies that they are not gods, nor immortal, to which Loki responds "Give or take 5,000 years". If we do some math and say 5,000 is the average life expectancy of a typical Asgardian (according to Loki), and divide that by 80 years here on earth, we get 62.5. According to Norse Mythology, Thor should have been a few hundred years old in 965AD during the battle with the Frost Giants to conquer earth. Loki was found/taken after the war, as seen in the first Thor movie.

Now, according to the official marvel timeline, 1,000 years before Tony Stark declared "I am Iron Man" in 2008, Odin took the Casket and Loki, making Loki's birth year around 1008. 2018-1008= 1010 Asgardian years old. 1010/62.5= 16.2 Earth years old.

Since Thor was a few hundred years old in 965AD, and 400 years after taking the casket and Loki, Odin left the Tesseract on Earth, that means that Thor would have been considered an "adult" by that time (1,408AD) In Viking culture, a male was considered an adult at 10 years of age and able to fight. We can calculate this 2 ways:

625/62.5= 10 years old. 625-400= Making Thor 225 years old in 965AD (Thor would have been only about 3 and a half during the war and obviously couldn't fight.) 965-225= Makes his birth year 740AD 2018-740= 1,278 Asgardian years old 1,278/62.5= 20.4 Earth years old.

1,408-625= Making his birth year 783AD 965-783= Making Thor 182 in 965AD (Thor would have been 3 years old and, again, couldn't fight) 2018-783= 1,235 Asgardian years old 1,235/62.5= 19.8 Earth years old

Either way, Thor is about 20 Earth years old, and Loki is about 16 Earth years old.

Please feel free to critique my math. It's nearly 2am by the time I post this.

Answer 3

Per EmilyAnn's answer;

In Thor, when speaking to Odin, he clarifies that they are not gods, nor immortal, to which Loki responds "Give or take 5,000 years".

If we do some math and say 5,000 is the average life expectancy of a typical Asgardian, and divide that by 80 years here on earth, we get 62.5.

According to Norse Mythology, Thor should have been a few hundred years old in 965 A.D. during the battle with the Frost Giants to conquer earth. Loki was found/taken after the war, as seen in the first Thor movie.

Around 1,000 years before Tony Stark declared "I am Iron Man" in 2008, Odin took the Casket and Loki, making Loki's birth year around 965 A.D.

2008 - 965 = 1043 Asgardian years old

1043/62.5 = 16.688 Earth years old

Thor stated in Infinity War that he was “around 1500 years old”. As I.W. was set in 2018, this would set Thor’s birth at around 520 A.D. (518 A.D. specifically).

2018 - 518 = 1500 Asgardian years old

1500/62.5 = 24 Earth years old

His birth year being 518 A.D. would put him at 447 years old when Loki was born.

447/62.5 = 7.152 Earth years old

Answer 4

Well, it’s hard to say. Unfortunately, there’s a few inconsistencies regarding Asgard, Asgardian ages, and timing. This could explain a lot of it though. If some planets/realms have a different length or estimation of time, it could explain a lot in the MCU.

It’s also not unprecedented in the MCU. Go watch Loki (because I’m not going to spoil that) and I saw some other people mentioned Sakar from Thor Ragnarok. There’s also an argument to made that it also shows up in Wandavision since the Hex seems kinda like an alternative dimension, but I’m not sure if that counts and it would go too far into other theories to be accurate.

It’s a good point. The issue is… with all the inconsistencies I feel like we’re missing too many factors to really know how to calculate or even estimate any of that. How do we know if they’re discussing Asgardian or Earth years? How do we know if they’re using another realm’s time units? How do we know if their math somehow works differently?

While we can speculate, it’s near impossible to know enough about Asgardian politics at this point to really figure out how they differ from earth in math, time, mannerisms, and other day to day factors.