sidereal day

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. the interval between two successive passages of the vernal equinox over the meridian, being about four minutes shorter than a mean solar day.

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sidereal day British  

noun

1. See day

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Etymology

Origin of sidereal day

First recorded in 1785–95

Compare meaning

How does sidereal-day compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• sidereal day vs. solar day

Example Sentences

Note: For simplicity’s sake, these are all sidereal days, and “day” refers to an Earth day.

From The Verge

This figure is known as the "sidereal day" or "stellar day".

From BBC

A diurnal variation of the results would appear as a peak in the lock-in spectrum at a period of the sidereal day, which is 86,164.1 s.

From Nature

A sidereal day is approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds.

From BBC

A deduction of the number of the years from the number of the sidereal days gave, as remainder, the number of civil days in the exeligmos.

From Project Gutenberg