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The long orbital period of Neptune means that the seasons last for forty Earth years. [109] Its sidereal rotation period (day) is roughly 16.11 hours. [ 12 ] Because its axial tilt is comparable to Earth's, the variation in the length of its day over the course of its long year is not any more extreme.
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.
The other type of commonly used "rotation period" is the object's synodic rotation period (or solar day), which may differ, by a fraction of a rotation or more than one rotation, to accommodate the portion of the object's orbital period around a star or another body during one day.
An increase of 360° in the ERA is a full rotation of the Earth. A sidereal day on Earth is approximately 86164.0905 seconds (23 h 56 min 4.0905 s or 23.9344696 h). (Seconds are defined as per International System of Units and are not to be confused with ephemeris seconds.)
The exact length has been variously defined as either that of a solar day or of a sidereal day. [1] [2] [3] Astronomical days were historically used by astronomers (in contrast most commonly to solar days), but since the Industrial Revolution this usage has generally fallen out of favor, in order to avoid confusion with more conventional ...
Known affectionately to scientists as the "boring billion," there was a seemingly endless period in the world's history when the length of a day stayed put. The time when a day on Earth was just ...
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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 approx. 14 Earth days. The formal lunar day is therefore the time of a full lunar day-night cycle.