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On a prograde planet like the Earth, the sidereal day is shorter than the solar day. At time 1, the Sun and a certain distant star are both overhead. At time 2, the planet has rotated 360° and the distant star is overhead again (1→2 = one sidereal day). But it is not until a little later, at time 3, that the Sun is overhead again (1→3 = one solar day). More simply, 1→2 is a complete ...
The United States Naval Observatory states "the Equation of Time is the difference apparent solar time minus mean solar time", i.e. if the sun is ahead of the clock the sign is positive, and if the clock is ahead of the sun the sign is negative. [6] [7] The equation of time is shown in the upper graph above for a period of slightly more than a ...
Sidereal time vs solar time. Above left: a distant star (the small orange star) and the Sun are at culmination, on the local meridian m. Centre: only the distant star is at culmination (a mean sidereal day). Right: a few minutes later the Sun is on the local meridian again. A solar day is complete.
Starting in 1847, Britain established Greenwich Mean Time, the mean solar time at Greenwich, England, to solve this problem: all clocks in Great Britain were set to this time regardless of local solar noon. [a] Using telescopes, GMT was calibrated to the mean solar time at the prime meridian through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
The equation of time — above the axis a sundial will appear fast relative to a clock showing local mean time, and below the axis a sundial will appear slow. Local mean time (LMT) is a form of solar time that corrects the variations of local apparent time, forming a uniform time scale at a specific longitude.
The equation of time was engraved on sundials so that clocks could be set using the Sun. In 1720, Joseph Williamson claimed to have invented a clock that showed solar time, fitted with a cam and differential gearing, so that the clock indicated true solar time. [137] [138] [139]
A definition of a terrestrial time standard was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1976 at its XVI General Assembly and later named Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TDT). It was the counterpart to Barycentric Dynamical Time (TDB), which was a time standard for Solar system ephemerides, to be based on a dynamical time scale ...
A westward shift causes the sundial to be ahead of the clock. Since the main effect of this oscillation concerns time, it is called the equation of time, using the word "equation" in a somewhat archaic sense meaning "correction". The oscillation is measured in units of time, minutes and seconds, corresponding to the amount that a sundial would ...