Should our days actually be shorter? – Researcher reveals details about Earth’s rotation

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Our day has 24 hours; a year has 365 days – at least according to our generally accepted definition. A scientist has examined this more closely and now reveals that the reality is quite different because our days are shorter.

According to our general understanding of the duration of a day, the Earth needs precisely 24 hours to make a full 360-degree rotation. However, a Japanese space agency JAXA researcher has now exposed this as false.

As planet researcher James O’Donoghue explains, according to data from MSN, the Earth has already completed its 360 degrees rotation after 23 hours and 56 minutes – our days should be four minutes shorter. How does that now fit together?

Four minutes too much
As O’Donoghue explains, according to MSN further, this is because mankind decided to determine the days not based on the earth’s rotation but according to the sun’s position. After a 360-degree rotation, the sun and the world do not face each other simultaneously.

If the earth has rotated once around itself after 23 hours and 56 minutes, it does not face the sun at the same point because it continues to move steadily in its orbit around the sun. To reach the same position again after each day, the Earth must rotate by one degree – that is, for four minutes.

Two types of days
O’Donoghue speaks here of two different types of days: the so-called “sidereal days” are aligned with the same rotation of the Earth – that is, with the completion of a 360-degree revolution. The alignment according to the sun’s position is called “solar days” and lasts four minutes longer. Our commonly known daily rhythm is also based on these solar days.

As msn O’Donoghue’s explanations go on to explain, if we humans aligned ourselves with sidereal days, the sun would rise about four minutes earlier each day. We would have, therefore, 366 days and not 365, as in the case of the solar days. It depends entirely on the assessment basis, so O’Donoghue further.