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sidereal year
(redirected from Sidereal orbital period)

   Also found in: Wikipedia 0.04 sec.
sidereal year, time required for the earth to complete an orbit of the sun relative to the stars. The sidereal year is 365 days, 6 hr, 9 min, 9.5 sec of mean solar time (see solar time solar time, time defined by the position of the sun. The solar day is the time it takes for the sun to return to the same meridian in the sky. Local solar time is measured by a sundial .
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). It is 20 min longer than the tropical year tropical year, time between successive vernal equinoxes ; 365 days, 5 hr, 48 min, 46 sec of mean solar time (see solar time ). The tropical year is the basis of the year used in the Gregorian calendar .
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 because of the precession of the equinoxes precession of the equinoxes, westward motion of the equinoxes along the ecliptic . This motion was first noted by Hipparchus c.120 B.C. The precession is due to the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun on the equatorial bulge of the earth, which causes the
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; for this reason, the sidereal year does not stay in step with the seasons.


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