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A synodic day (or synodic rotation period or solar day) is the period for a celestial object to rotate once in relation to the star it is orbiting, and is the basis of solar time. The synodic day is distinguished from the sidereal day , which is one complete rotation in relation to distant stars [ 1 ] and is the basis of sidereal time.
Due to tidal locking, this equals the time that the Moon takes to complete one synodic orbit around Earth, a synodic lunar month, returning to the same lunar phase. The synodic period is about 29 + 1 ⁄ 2 Earth days, which is about 2.2 days longer than its sidereal period.
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 sidereal year differs from the solar year, "the period of time required for the ecliptic longitude of the Sun to increase 360 degrees", [2] due to the precession of the equinoxes. The sidereal year is 20 min 24.5 s longer than the mean tropical year at J2000.0 (365.242 190 402 ephemeris days). [1]
In astronomy, the rotation period or spin period [1] of a celestial object (e.g., star, planet, moon, asteroid) has two definitions. The first one corresponds to the sidereal rotation period (or sidereal day ), i.e., the time that the object takes to complete a full rotation around its axis relative to the background stars ( inertial space ).
It can be confusing that the Moon's orbital sidereal period is 27.3 days while the phases complete a cycle once every 29.5 days (synodic period). This is due to the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The Moon orbits the Earth 13.4 times a year, but only passes between the Earth and Sun 12.4 times.
Likewise, 9 years and 5 + 1 ⁄ 2 days after a total solar eclipse or an annular solar eclipse occurs, a total lunar eclipse will also occur. This 9-year period is referred to as a sar. It includes 111 + 1 ⁄ 2 synodic months, or 111 synodic months plus one fortnight. The fortnight accounts for the alternation between solar and lunar eclipse.
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