Tropical year

A tropical year is the length of time that the Sun, as viewed from the Earth, takes to return to the same position along the ecliptic (its path among the stars on the celestial sphere). The precise length of time depends on which point of the ecliptic one chooses: starting from the (northern) vernal equinox, one of the four cardinal points along the ecliptic, yields the vernal equinox year; averaging over all starting points on the ecliptic yields the mean tropical year.

Related Topics:
Sun - Earth - Ecliptic - Celestial sphere - Vernal equinox

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On Earth, we notice the progress of the tropical year from the slow motion of the Sun from south to north and back; the word "tropical" is derived from Greek tropos meaning "turn". The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn mark the extreme north and south latitudes the Sun reaches during this cycle. The position of the Sun can be measured by the variation from day to day of the length of the shadow at noon of a gnomon (a vertical pillar or stick). This is the most "natural" way of measuring the year in the sense that the variations of insolation drive the seasons.

Related Topics:
Tropical - Year - Greek - Cancer - Capricorn - Latitude - Gnomon

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Because the vernal equinox moves back along the ecliptic due to precession, a tropical year is shorter than a sidereal year (in 2000, the difference was 20.409 minutes; it was 20.400 min in 1900).

Related Topics:
Precession - Sidereal year - 2000 - 1900

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