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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.
A full lunar day observed from the Earth, where orbital libration causes the apparent wobble. A lunar day is the time it takes for Earth's Moon to complete on its axis one synodic rotation, meaning with respect to the Sun. Informally, a lunar day and a lunar night is each approximately 14 Earth days.
The synodic month (Greek: συνοδικός, romanized: synodikós, meaning "pertaining to a synod, i.e., a meeting"; in this case, of the Sun and the Moon), also lunation, is the average period of the Moon's orbit with respect to the line joining the Sun and Earth: 29 (Earth) days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.9 seconds. [5]
Earth's rotation period relative to the Sun (solar noon to solar noon) is its true solar day or apparent solar day. [26] It depends on Earth's orbital motion and is thus affected by changes in the eccentricity and inclination of Earth's orbit. Both vary over thousands of years, so the annual variation of the true solar day also varies.
The Mayan calendar’s 819-day cycle has confounded scholars for decades, but new research shows how it matches up to planetary cycles over a 45-year span
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 ...
Civilisation was thinking on much longer timescales than researchers had realised, new study suggests
As the Earth travels around the sun, it does so at an angle. The equinox arrives on Saturday, marking the start of the fall season for the Northern Hemisphere. Here's what to know about how we ...