Agenda – Thursday, Feb 20 Last chance to hand in the Earth’s Motion Book Questions that were collected yesterday at end of hour. If you now have them complete, turn them into me. Today’s Topic: Earth’s Rotation (Sidereal vs Synodic) Then we will continue with Revolution details
Period of Earth’s Rotation? About 24 hours but the exact period depends on how you define it.
Sidereal Rotation With respect to a distant (infinitely far away) star Period of Sidereal is a constant value of 23 hours, 56 min, 4.091 sec Does not vary throughout year
Synodic Rotation With respect to the sun The period varies throughout the year Period averages 24 hours Synodic measurements are based on the position of the sun compared to earth
So what does the difference mean? Distant stars rise every 23 h 56 m 4 s So… Stars rise 4 minutes earlier every night When would Earth’s synodic period be longest? When would earth’s synodic period be shortest?