Convert Sidereal Years to Sidereal Days

Convert Sidereal Years (a_sid) to Sidereal Days (sid.d) instantly and accurately.

Conversion Formula

sid.d = a_sid × 366.2564019

About Sidereal Years

The sidereal year = Earth's orbital period relative to the stars = 365.25636 days = 31,558,149.8 s - about 20 min 24 s longer than the tropical year. The gap arises from precession of the equinoxes (~50 arcsec/year westward drift), which causes the tropical year to end slightly before the sidereal orbit completes. JPL DE440 ephemerides and J2000.0 epoch are anchored to the sidereal frame. 1 a_sid = 365.25636 d.

About Sidereal Days

A sidereal day = Earth's rotation period relative to the stars = 23 h 56 min 4.0905 s = 86,164.0905 s - ~3 min 56 s shorter than the 24 h solar day because Earth advances ~1° in its orbit each day. Equatorial telescope mounts rotate at one turn per sidereal day to track stars. VLBI, GPS orbit determination, and polar-motion monitoring use sidereal rotation as their reference. 1 sid. day = 86,164.0905 s.

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