Intermediate
Why the sidereal day is shorter
The Earth completes one orbit around the Sun in solar days. Derive the length of the sidereal day from the length of the mean solar day ( s) and evaluate it in hours, minutes and seconds.
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Reading resources
Material that covers the physics behind this problem.
- Introductory Astronomy and AstrophysicsZeilik & Gregory
More compact than Carroll & Ostlie, with excellent worked problems on coordinates, time and telescope optics.
Textbook - Spherical AstronomyRobin M. Green
The definitive treatment of the celestial sphere, spherical trigonometry and time systems. Dense but authoritative.
Textbook