Jakarta – The time cycle for a day and a night on Earth lasts 24 hours. So, what about other planets like Mars? Are the numbers the same, less, or even more?
Reporting from detikEdu, the length of time in a day can be determined from the daily cycle on planet Earth which rotates counterclockwise on its axis. This calculation begins with the Sun rising in the east and finally setting in the west.
Then, the cycle takes us into the night until finally moving to a new day with the Sun rising once again.
However, determining the length of a day on a planet can be determined in two ways, namely the sidereal day and the solar day.
So what is the difference between a sidereal day and a solar day?
Sidereal/Sidereal Day & Solar Day
According to the Royal Museums Greenwich page, a sidereal day is the time it takes for a planet to rotate once so that the stars reappear in the same position in the so-called night sky.
A sidereal day on Earth is 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds. Although astronomers sometimes use sidereal days as a passage of time, in everyday life we are more familiar with the idea of a solar day.
The solar day is the length of time it takes for a planet to rotate on its axis so that the Sun appears in the same position in the sky during the day (usually when the Sun is on the local meridian). One solar day on Earth lasts an average of 24 hours.
The duration of a solar day is longer than a sidereal day. This is because the Earth not only rotates on its axis (counterclockwise), but also orbits around the Sun (counterclockwise).
It takes a little longer each day, about four minutes, for the Sun to appear in the same part of the sky as the previous day.
A 24-hour solar day is also considered average because the Earth has an eccentric orbit around the Sun (not a perfect circle). The Earth does not move at a constant speed throughout its orbit, so the length of the solar day varies from day to day.
How Long is a Day on Mars?
If a solar day on Earth lasts 24 hours and a sidereal day is a little over 4 minutes, then what about on Mars?
Apparently, the length of time that Mars has is known to be very similar to that of Earth, both solar days and sidereal days. A sidereal day on Mars is 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds, while a solar day on Mars is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.
That is, a day on Mars (called a “sol”) is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.
Meanwhile, for the length of a year, if the average length of an Earth year is 365.25 days, then a year on Mars is longer, namely 687 days. This difference occurs because Mars is farther from the Sun than Earth is from the Sun.
In our solar system, another planet with very short days is Jupiter. The duration of one sidereal day of this planet is only 9 hours 55 minutes 30 seconds.
Watch the video “Planet Mars Rotates Faster, Scientists Are Confused”
(urw/alk)
2023-09-17 12:15:22
#day #Earth #hours #Mars
