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from | Encarta |  |
Sidereal Day |
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| Scientists sometimes use distant stars as reference points to measure the time it takes Earth to make one full rotation on its axis. When the sun is used as a reference, the rotation is called a mean solar day. When scientists use a fixed star other than the sun as a reference point, the rotation is called a sidereal day. A sidereal day is 4 minutes shorter than the mean solar day. | ||||||
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| Appears in these articles: | ||||||
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| Astronomy; Day; Time | ||||||
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