Learn more by clicking the Google or Facebook button below. Population Demographics for Tonasket, Washington in 2016 and 2017. Other Counties and Cities in Washington.
Sidereal Period versus Synodic Period. 1  Measuring the motion of the Moon around the Earth relative to the distant stars leads us to what is called the sidereal period. 2  Measuring the motion of the Moon around the Earth relative to the Sun leads us to what is called the synodic (pronounced si-nod-ik) period.
It's the time it takes for a distant star to return to the same position in the sky, and it differs from the solar day because the Earth revolves around the Sun as it rotates on its own axis; there is one more sidereal day than solar day each year. A sidereal day is approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.0916 seconds.