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Here's the answer, for planet Earth. A "solar day" is the time between the Sun's successive highest points in the sky. Astronomers refer to these peaks as "culminations".
There is some natural variation in the length of this "day". However, clocks use the "mean solar day". This is an average of the solar day lengths during a year and is indeed exactly 24 hours.
A "sidereal day" is the period from when a particular star reaches its peak until the next night when the same star reaches its peak again. This is 23 hours 56 minutes (and a few seconds).
So, the gap is just less than 4 minutes.
The difference is caused by the fact that the Earth is continuing along in its orbit while it is spinning. After precisely one rotation, or one sidereal day, we find that the Sun is still a few minutes away from reaching its peak, and it takes the Earth another 4 minutes or so to turn enough so that the Sun is once again at
its highest point in the sky.
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∙ 11y ago
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Why do we use the mean solar day rather then the sidereal day to measure the time for one earth rotation?
We don't. The sidereal day IS used as the measure of the Earth's rotation. The mean solar day is used to regulate our daily lives because that's the average time for the Sun to complete its apparent daily journey round the sky. The difference is because the solar day takes into account the effect of the Earth's orbital motion which slightly alters the position of the Sun in the sky.
What is the difference between earth days and days?
A "sidereal day" on any planet is the time it takes the planet to rotate exactly once on its axis. On Earth that takes about 23 hours and 56 minutes. There's also the "mean solar day". That depends on the position of the Sun in the sky, and on Earth it's 24 hours long. The "mean solar day" is what's normally meant by an "Earth day". The word "day " is also used for the equivalent things on other planets. For example, Mars has a sidereal day of about 24 hours and 37 minutes, and Mars has a solar day that's about 2 minutes longer.
Is a sidereal day longer or shorter than a solar day?
The Sun crosses the meridian (the imaginaryline in the sky from due north to due south and passing directly overhead) at solar noon. The period between two successive solar noons is a "solar day". When you reckon the period of time between two successive meridian transits of a distant star, or the vernal equinox, that is a "sidereal day". In simple terms the sidereal day is the rotation period of a planet.
What is the length of a day for all of the planet to planet?
There are two main definitions of "day" for a planet:1) Sidereal day. That's the time taken to rotate once.2) Solar day. That's the time taken for the Sun to complete one apparent journeyaround the sky. Usually it's given as the "mean solar day", which is the average value.The solar day depends on the planet's orbital motion, as well as its rotation.Here are the details, with slight approximations:Mercury : sidereal day, 58.65 Earth dayssolar day, 175.94 Earth daysVenus: sidereal day, 243.02 Earth dayssolar day, 116.75 Earth daysEarth: sidereal day, 23.934 hourssolar day, 24.000 hoursMars: sidereal day, 24.623 hourssolar day, 24.660 hoursFor these planets both days are nearly the same length:Jupiter: 9.92 hoursSaturn: 10.66 hoursUranus: 17.24 hoursNeptune: 16.11 hours
What is time called that is based on the average length of a day throughout a year?
Mean solar time
The fact that the Earth has moved along its orbit in the time it took to rotate once is the reason for?
That's the reason for the nearly-4-minutes difference between the lengths of the sidereal day and the solar day.
Why do we use the mean solar day rather then the sidereal day to measure the time for one earth rotation?
We don't. The sidereal day IS used as the measure of the Earth's rotation. The mean solar day is used to regulate our daily lives because that's the average time for the Sun to complete its apparent daily journey round the sky. The difference is because the solar day takes into account the effect of the Earth's orbital motion which slightly alters the position of the Sun in the sky.
What is the difference between earth days and days?
A "sidereal day" on any planet is the time it takes the planet to rotate exactly once on its axis. On Earth that takes about 23 hours and 56 minutes. There's also the "mean solar day". That depends on the position of the Sun in the sky, and on Earth it's 24 hours long. The "mean solar day" is what's normally meant by an "Earth day". The word "day " is also used for the equivalent things on other planets. For example, Mars has a sidereal day of about 24 hours and 37 minutes, and Mars has a solar day that's about 2 minutes longer.
What is equation of time?
the distance between the solar time i.e Mean time apparent solar time is stated as equation of time. M.t-A.t=equation of time
Is a sidereal day longer or shorter than a solar day?
The Sun crosses the meridian (the imaginaryline in the sky from due north to due south and passing directly overhead) at solar noon. The period between two successive solar noons is a "solar day". When you reckon the period of time between two successive meridian transits of a distant star, or the vernal equinox, that is a "sidereal day". In simple terms the sidereal day is the rotation period of a planet.
What is the length of a day for all of the planet to planet?
There are two main definitions of "day" for a planet:1) Sidereal day. That's the time taken to rotate once.2) Solar day. That's the time taken for the Sun to complete one apparent journeyaround the sky. Usually it's given as the "mean solar day", which is the average value.The solar day depends on the planet's orbital motion, as well as its rotation.Here are the details, with slight approximations:Mercury : sidereal day, 58.65 Earth dayssolar day, 175.94 Earth daysVenus: sidereal day, 243.02 Earth dayssolar day, 116.75 Earth daysEarth: sidereal day, 23.934 hourssolar day, 24.000 hoursMars: sidereal day, 24.623 hourssolar day, 24.660 hoursFor these planets both days are nearly the same length:Jupiter: 9.92 hoursSaturn: 10.66 hoursUranus: 17.24 hoursNeptune: 16.11 hours
Why is length of a sidereal day and a solar day on venus so different?
The sidereal day is about 243 Earth days. That is the time for the planet to rotate once . The solar day is 117 Earth days,roughly. That is a big difference. On Earth the difference between these two days is only about 4 minutes. The reason for the big difference on Venus is that Venus rotates very slowly. The solar day depends on the rotation of a planet AND its orbital motion. The slow rotation makes the effect of the orbital motion much greater on the length of the solar day. Incidentally Venus rotates in the opposite direction to Earth. That's why the solar day is shorter than the sidereal day. On Earth it's the other way round.
What is the relationship between apparent solar time and mean solar time?
The Earth "day" of exactly 24 hours is the "mean solar day""Mean" is basically a scientific way of saying "average". It's called a "solar day " because it's based on the position of the Sun in the sky.There are natural variations in the length of the solar day because of the Earth's elliptical orbit and axial tilt.The "mean solar day" averages out the variations that happen during the year.This makes things much more convenient for everyday life."Mean solar time" is based on the "mean solar day".The "apparent solar day" is the what we actually observe, and its length varies from day to day.A sundial measures "apparent solar time". We can convert this time to mean solar time by using something called "the equation of time".Actually, the sundial shows "local apparent solar time".That's because the time shown by a sundial depends on its exact longitude.For convenience, mean solar time has time zones (based on longitude).So, longitude also affects the relationship between these twomeasures of time.
What is the difference between a sidereal month and and a synodic month?
A sidereal month is the time it takes the moon to complete one orbit of earth. A synodic month is longer than a sidereal month because it takes longer for the moon to go through it's phases
What is the difference between a Sidereal month and lunar month?
A sidereal month is the time it takes the moon to circle the Earth with respect to the stars (27 days), A lunar month is the time it takes from full moon to full moon (29 days).
Equation for time?
The equation of time is the difference between apparent solar time and mean solar time, both taken at a given place (or at another place with the same geographical longitude) at the same real instant of time.
What is solar time standard time?
the average of the mean solar time for a particular time zone
