[Physics] Why is the solar noon time different every day

astronomy

If you check the local time for solar noon is different every day. Why is it so? Is it because Earth doesn't make a complete rotation in exactly 24 hours?

The following is an example of the solar noon differences (also sunrise and sunset), computed by the Python Astral module for the city of Guayaquil
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Best Answer

Here's how I explain this to my students. There are actually two suns in the sky. One is responsible for causing objects to cast shadows and is the daytime star we're all accustomed to observing. Let's call it the "true Sun" or the "apparent Sun." It, in effect, governs our lives. However, it has one main problem relevant to timekeeping, and that is that its speed along the ecliptic throughout the year varies. It's average (angular) speed is about $360/365$ deg/day or about $0.986$ deg/day. Now, this variation is important because if we want to use this Sun as a prime mover for timekeeping, we have to be aware of the variation. It means that an hour, which is defined as one twenty-fourth of the time it takes this Sun to go from the celestial meridian around to the celestial meridian again, varies in duration throughout the year when compared to the same interval measured with a timekeeping device that does NOT vary in rate. As for the cause of the variation, there are several factors at work here. One is the shape of Earth's orbit, which causes Earth to move at different speeds at different places in its orbit. Of course, we see this as differences in true Sun's speed along the ecliptic because we're on the moving Earth. Another is the fact that true Sun's path, the ecliptic, makes a $23.5^\circ$ angle with the celestial equator, which also causes seasonal variations in true Sun's speed along the celestial equator.

To get around these problems, astronomers invented the "mean Sun" for timekeeping, and it moves at a uniform rate (not a variable rate) along the celestial equator (not the ecliptic). Both it and the true Sun have the same average angular speed, taking one year to complete one trip around the sky (in different planes, however). Being fictitious, one can't actually observe mean Sun. Nevertheless, mean Sun is the prime mover that we use for all civil timekeeping. We can track its motion relative to the celestial meridian with a mechanical (or nowadays, digital) device called a "clock."

Now, the variations in the true Sun's motion causes it to sometimes be ahead of, sometimes lag behind, and sometimes be neck and neck with the mean Sun. This variation is called the equation of time and can be tabulated for any date.

When we say "noon" most people think of Sun being at its highest point in the sky, which need not be the zenith, but will ALWAYS be somewhere on the celestial meridian (yes, things get weird in the arctic and antarctic regions). However, "noon" really only applies to true Sun's motions. We keep time by mean Sun's motions, and a mean solar clock ALWAYS reads 12:00 when mean Sun is on the meridian. This moment, except for four days of the year, does not coincide with "noon" as embodied by true Sun's motions.

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