If you like to feel insignificant within our great cosmos, then have we got the right celebration for you. Today is the 235th Galactic Tick Day (GTD), which celebrates the slow orbit of the Sun around the center of the Milky Way.

If you haven’t heard of it before, don’t worry. The holiday is brand new and not (yet) officially sanctioned, but it aims to give a human-friendly feel to our 225-million-year-long trek around the galaxy.

“The concept was initially born out of the frustration with the mysticism that reared up when Mercury was in retrograde earlier this year,” David Sneider, one of the creators of GTD, told IFLScience. “There was a clear need to recognize large-scale astronomical motion, independent of pseudoscience, and the idea of a holiday that celebrates the motion of the Solar System around the Milky Way seemed like a wonderful way to get started.”

Of course, 225 million years is a very long time. The last time the Earth was in this position around the Milky Way, dinosaurs had just taken their first steps towards colonizing the planet. Due to this, the team picked a tiny fraction of this path – a centi-arcsecond of a degree, which corresponds to 633.7 days.

They divided the Sun’s orbit into 360 degrees, divided each degree by 3,600 (getting an arcsecond), and then divided that by 100.

People might snigger at this new holiday, but pay attention to many a “National [BLANK] Day”, so why not take a chance to consider the vastness of the universe and our small role in it?

“Galactic Tick Day is important because it's simultaneously kind of silly and deeply significant,” continued Sneider. “GTD offers a chance for appreciation and awe of the endeavor of science.”

And to commemorate that endeavor, the team selected the first GTD as October 2, 1608, when Hans Lippershey patented the first telescope.

Like all the other festivities, it’s up to you to make it a big deal or not.

“I've gotten word from a number of people around the world that they're hosting events as well, ranging from BBQs to stargazing,” said Sneider. “I'll be celebrating with a couple hundred of my friends in San Francisco where we'll have talks from scientists on gravitational waves and space colonization. We'll also have dance music, fire spinners, and hopefully meaningful dialogue.”

All in all, we survived another tick in the galactic clock, so happy Galactic Tick Day, inhabitants of the Solar System!