mean sun


nounAstronomy.
  1. an imaginary sun moving uniformly in the celestial equator and taking the same time to make its annual circuit as the true sun does in the ecliptic.

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British Dictionary definitions for mean sun

mean sun

noun
  1. an imaginary sun moving along the celestial equator at a constant rate and completing its annual course in the same time as the sun takes to move round the ecliptic at a varying rate. It is used in the measurement of mean solar time

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for mean sun

mean sun

  1. A hypothetical Sun defined as moving at a uniform rate along the celestial equator at the mean speed with which the real Sun apparently moves along the ecliptic, used in computing the mean solar day.

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