GENERAL NAVIGATION

061 01 03 00
TIME AND TIME CONVERSIONS
Apparent Time

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 CONTENT
061 01 03 01 APPARENT TIME

1. Principles of zone time.

2. Earth rotation (from west to east) - celestial bodies appear
to revolve around the Earth from east to west.
3. Define and explain the term ‘transit’.
4. Explain the time period of a ‘day’.
5. Explain the term ‘sidereal day’.
6. Length of a day measured by the apparent passage of the
Sun will vary.
7. Variation in the length of an apparent day.
8. Apparent solar day.
9. Mean solar day.

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 CONTENT
APPARENT TIME

10. Mean Sun. Constant.

11. ‘Equation of time’.
12. 1 year is approximately 365 ¼ calendar days.
13. Leap year.
14. Time can also be measured in arc.
15. Relationship between time and arc along the equator.
16. Deduce conversion values for arc to time and visa versa.

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 Zone times

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/
Zone times

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 Background (Earth rotation)
Rotation
• Counter-clockwise for an observer placed in a point above the North
Pole
• The Earth is described as rotating from West to East
• This is why the Sun, and the rest of celestial bodies, appears to rise in
the East and set in the West (to an observer standing on the ground)

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 Transit / Sidereal Day
• Transit means that a celestial body crosses the observer’s meridian.

PERIOD OF A “DAY”
• The time period of a ‘day’ is the elapsed time between two successive
transits of a heavenly body.

SIDEREAL DAY
• It´s the time measured with reference to a fixed point on the celestial
sphere.
• It´s the time interval between two successive transits of a celestial
body of the same meridian.
• The sidereal day is of constant duration.

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 Apparent (real) Sun and Day
• The period between two successive transits of the Sun is called an
apparent solar day.
• The time based on this apparent solar day is called apparent time.
APPARENT SUN
• The path of the apparent sun is the ecliptic.

APPARENT (REAL) SOLAR DAY

• It´s measured against the apparent (real) sun. However using the
apparent (real) sun introduces the problem of the apparent solar not
being a constant length.
• If the day is measured by the apparent passage of the Sun, the length
of a day will vary continuously throughout a year. The reason for the
variation in the length of an apparent day, is a combination of:
1. The tilt of the Earth´s axis (the inclination of the Earth’s rotation axis to the plane
of the ecliptic), and
2. The elliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun (the variation in the Earth’s orbital
speed around the Sun). 8
 Mean Sun
MEAN SUN
• It´s a fictitious Sun orbiting along the plane of the equator at a constant
angular velocity that provides a uniform measure of time.
• It´s a non existing average sun.
• It travels at a constant angular velocity in the plane of the equator.
• The time between two successive transits of the mean Sun over a
meridian is constant.
• It coincides with the apparent Sun each year at the Spring Equinox.

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 Mean Day
• In order to have a constant measurement of time, which will still have
the solar day as a basis, the average length of an apparent solar day
is taken.
• This average day is called mean solar day. It is divided into 24 hours
of mean time.

MEAN SOLAR DAY

• To overcome the variations in length of the apparent solar day, the
mean solar day is used, which is always exactly 24 hours long.
• The mean solar day may be considered as being the time interval
between two successive transits of a non existing average or mean
sun over a given meridian.
• The difference in length (duration) between the apparent day (based
upon the "true" sun) and the mean day (based upon the fictitious
"mean" sun) is always less than one minute of time.
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 Background (Sun´s declination)
• The apparent Sun is
always in the plane
of the ecliptic (as
seen from an
observer on the
surface of the
Earth).
• That apparent Sun
appears to cross the
Earth from East to
West daily (Earth
rotation movement).

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 The EQUATION OF TIME
• It represents the difference in the length between the
apparent solar day and mean solar day.

• It´s not an equation, merely represents a time difference.

• It´s the name given to the time difference between the

noon transit time of the two suns across given meridian.

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 The EQUATION OF TIME
• The maximum time difference between Mean
Time and apparent (real) sun time occurs in:
1. Early November: when the real sun is 16 minutes ahead of the
mean sun. Mean sun crosses the observer´s meridian 16 minutes
later than the real sun does.
2. Mid February: when the real sun is approximately 14 minutes
behind the mean sun. Mean sun crosses the observer´s meridian
14 minutes before than the real sun does.
• In between these maxima, the difference reduces. This
difference is known as the Equation of Time.
• The position of the real sun is of importance to
astronomers, however all calculations concerning time are
based on the position of the mean time.
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The EQUATION OF TIME

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 The YEAR
• A year is the orbital period of the Earth (365 mean solar
days + 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds) moving in its
orbit around the Sun.
• Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the
passing of the seasons, marked by changes in weather,
the hours of daylight, etc.

LEAP YEAR
• It´s a year containing one additional day (366 days). It occurs every
four years.
• It´s the method to compute the 6 hours lost every year.
• There is a leap year every year whose number is perfectly divisible by
four.
• Three leap years are suppressed every four centuries.
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 Arc of TIME
• Time can also be measured in arc since, in one day of mean
solar time, the mean Sun is imagined to travel in a complete
circle round the Earth, a motion of 360° in 24 hours.
• Arc of time permits the calculation at one longitude on the Earth
from a knowledge of the LMT at another, based on the
difference of longitude between the two points.
• The mean sun travels around the Earth (360º) once every 24
hours, therefore in one hour the sun travels through 15
degree of arc, in 4 min through one degree of arc and 4
sec through 1 min of arc.

15º of arc → 1 hour of time

1º of arc → 4 minutes of time
1´of arc → 4 seconds of time
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 Arc of TIME

Calculate the time taken for

the sun to travel from 58ºW to
125ºW
– 125-58 = 67º of longitude
change
– 15º = 1h -> 60º = 4h
– 1º = 4min -> 7º = 28min
–RESULT: 4h and 28min

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 Arc of TIME

LMT at Nairobi (037ºE) is

22:00 / 01 October.
Calculate LMT at Vancouver
Vancouver (122º 55´W)
at the same time
– 122º + 37º = 159º
– 15º = 1h -> 150º = 10h
– 1º = 4min -> 9º = 36min
– 1´ = 4sg -> 55´ = 220sg =
3min 40sg
– RESULT: 10h39min40sg
(22:00 LMT – 10h39m40sg)
11:21 LMT (19:32 UTC)
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Arc of TIME

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Arc of TIME

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Apparent TIME

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Apparent TIME

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Apparent TIME

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Apparent TIME

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Apparent SUN

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Equation of TIME

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Questions?

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