Sidereal Day

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Sidereal Day

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The duration of one rotation of the earth on its axis, with respect to the vernal equinox. It is measured by successive transits of the vernal equinox over the upper branch of a meridian. </dd>
Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the sidereal day thus defined is slightly less than the period of rotation with respect to the stars, but the difference is less than 0.01 second. The length of the mean sidereal day is 24 hours of sidereal time or 23 hours 56 minutes 4.09054 seconds of mean solar time. [[/a>|/a>]] </dd>

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use