alleryStart learning →By roughly how much is the solar day longer than the sidereal day?
AAbout 4 seconds
BAbout 40 minutes
CAbout 4 minutes
DAbout 4 hours
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. About 4 minutes
1. A sidereal day is one turn of Earth measured against the distant stars.
2. A solar day needs a little extra turning because Earth has moved along its orbit.
3. That extra turn takes about 4 minutes, so the solar day is 4 minutes longer.
_Source: OpenStax Astronomy (CC BY 4.0), Ch 4 "Earth, Moon, and Sky" and Ch 5 "Radiation and Spectra", section 4.3 Keeping Time_
Keep practising Earth, Moon, and Sky
Browse all Earth, Moon, and Sky questions for NY Regents Earth and Space Sciences, or explore more Science topics.
Related questions
Run the Moon through its monthKnock out the phase mythsSort each clue into its eclipseFar more people can watch a given lunar eclipse than a given solar eclipse. What is the reIt is midnight and a fully lit Moon is high overhead. Two weeks later, what will the midniA star rises at 9:00 p.m. tonight. About what time will it rise one month from now?Imagine Earth had an axis tilted by 16 degrees instead of 23. What would the gap in latituWhy is there no eclipse at every new moon and every full moon?