sidereal year

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. a division of time equal to the equinoctial year plus 20 minutes, representing the time required for the earth to complete one revolution around the sun, measured with relation to the fixed stars.

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sidereal year British  

noun

1. See year

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Etymology

Origin of sidereal year

First recorded in 1675–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sidereal year

Their observations led them to discover the length, very nearly, of the sidereal year, which they made to consist of 365 days, every fourth year adding one day, making the number for that year 366.

From General History for Colleges and High Schools by Myers, Philip Van Ness

In what way was the primitive year regulated? was it a solar or a sidereal year?

From Astronomical Myths Based on Flammarions's History of the Heavens by Blake, John F.

It has received the name of sidereal year.

From Astronomy for Amateurs by Welby, Frances A. (Frances Alice)

Thus the Babylonians had fixed the length of a tropical year within twenty-five seconds of the truth; their estimate of the sidereal year was barely two minutes in excess.

From History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science by Draper, John William

The earth’s axis rotates about the pole of the ecliptic, making one revolution and a twenty-six thousandth part of a revolution in the sidereal year, in the opposite direction to its orbital motion.

From History of Astronomy by Forbes, George