Time System

Chapter 7
 Universal(solar) time
• Solar day lasts from when the Sun is on the
meridian at a point on Earth until it is next on
the meridian. A solar day is exactly 24 hours
(of solar time). Because of the Earth's
revolution, a solar day is slightly longer than a
sidereal day. In every day life, we use solar
time.
 Universal(solar) time
The Earth must rotate an extra 0.986 degrees
between solar crossings of the meridian.
Therefore in 24 hours of solar time, the Earth
rotates 360.986 degrees.
 Solar time
• Time based on the rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. Solar time
units are slightly longer than sidereal units due to the continuous movement
of the Earth along its orbital path. For example, by the time the Earth has
completed one full rotation on its axis with respect to the fixed stars, it has
also moved a short distance in its orbit and is oriented slightly differently to
the Sun, so that it must turn slightly more on its axis to complete a full
rotation with respect to the Sun.
• The time it takes the Earth to rotate
fully with respect to the Sun is called a solar day. The length of a solar day
varies throughout the year due to variations in the Earth's orbital speed and
other factors.
• The average value of all solar days in the solar year is
called a mean solar day ; it is 24 hours long and by convention is
measured from midnight to midnight.
• A solar year is the period of time
required for the Earth to make a complete orbit with respect to the Sun as
measured from one vernal equinox to the next; it is equal to 365 days, 5hours, 48 mi
nutes, 45.51 seconds. A solar year is also called an
astronomical year and a tropical year.
• A solar month is one twelfth of a
solar year, totaling 30 days, 10 hours, 29 minutes, 3.8 seconds. Compare sidereal
time.
 Sidereal time
• A sidereal day measures the rotation of Earth
relative to the stars rather than the sun. It helps
astronomers keep time and know where to point
their telescopes without worrying about where
Earth is in its orbit.
• Because the stars are so distant from us, the
motion of the Earth in its orbit makes an
negligible difference in the direction to the stars.
Hence, the Earth rotates 360 degrees in
one sidereal day
Contd….
Sidereal time & solar time
 Time and motion
• In physics, motion is a change in position of an
object with respect to time also on its
reference point.
• Motion is typically described in terms
of displacement, direction, velocity,
acceleration, time and speed.
• Motion is observed by attaching a frame of
reference to a body and measuring its change
in position relative to that frame.
• If the position of a body is not changing with
the time with respect to a given frame of
reference the body is said to be at
rest, motionless, stationary, or to have
constant (time-invariant) position.
• An object's motion cannot change unless it is
acted upon by a force, as described
by Newton's first law.
 Kepler’s law of Planetary motion
1. Planets move around the Sun in ellipses, with
the Sun at one focus

2. The line connecting the Sun to a planet

sweeps equal areas in equal times.

3. The ratio of the squares of the revolutionary

periods for two planets is equal to the ratio of the
cubes of their semi major axes
 Kepler’s First law
1. Planets move around the Sun in ellipses, with the Sun at one
focus
 Kepler's First Law
• The law is illustrated in the image shown above.
The Sun is not at the center of the ellipse, but is
instead at one focus (generally there is nothing at
the other focus of the ellipse).
• The planet then follows the ellipse in its orbit,
which means that the Earth-Sun distance is
constantly changing as the planet goes around its
orbit. For purpose of illustration we have shown
the orbit as rather eccentric; remember that the
actual orbits are much less eccentric than this.
Contd…

Fig: Kepler’s First Law

Contd…

Fig: Aphelion and Perihelion

Kepler’s Second law
Contd….

Fig: Kepler’s 2nd Law

Contd…
• Kepler's second law is illustrated in the preceding
figure. The line joining the Sun and planet sweeps out
equal areas in equal times, so the planet moves
faster when it is nearer the Sun. Thus, a planet
executes elliptical motion with constantly changing
angular speed as it moves about its orbit. The point
of nearest approach of the planet to the Sun is
termed perihelion; the point of greatest separation is
termed aphelion. Hence, by Kepler's second law, the
planet moves fastest when it is near perihelion and
slowest when it is near aphelion.
• Orbital eccentricity of earth is 0.01671022
 Kepler’s Third Law
• Explore yourself
Some time related problems
Contd…
Contd…
 Geostationary orbit
• A geostationary orbit (or Geostationary Earth Orbit - GEO)
is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the
Earth's equator (0° latitude), with a period equal to the
Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of
approximately zero.
• An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a
fixed position in the sky, to ground observers.
• Communications satellites and weather satellites are often
given geostationary orbits, so that the satellite
antennas that communicate with them do not have to
move to track them, but can be pointed permanently at the
position in the sky where they stay.
• Geo-synchronous satellite (explore yourself)
 Newton’s Law of motion
• In 1687 Isaac Newton published Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica, a work of
immense and profound impact. Newton's
pronounced three laws of motion and a law of
universal gravitation. They were a united set
of principles which applied not only to the
heavens but also to the earth in a uniform
way. Their simplicity and extremely broad
applicability forever changed astronomy.
 st
1 Law of Motion: Law of Inertia
• A body remains at rest, or moves in a straight
line (at a constant velocity), unless acted upon by
a net outside force.
• The law of inertia did not originate with Newton,
nevertheless it is integral to his system of
mechanics. An object in motion will remain in
motion unless something acts upon it. Because a
planet is moving in an ellipse (i.e. not a straight
line) this law states that there must be some
“force” acting upon the planet. If there were no
force, the planet would fly off in a straight line
 nd
2 Law of Motion: F = ma
• The acceleration of an object is proportional to
the force acting upon it.
• The first law says that if no force is acting on an
object, it will remain in motion. The second law
tells how the motion will change when a force
acts upon the object. Velocity is how fast an
object is moving (speed or magnitude) and the
direction it is moving. Acceleration is a change in
velocity. An accelerating object can either change
how fast it is moving, the direction it is moving, or
both.
 rd
3 Law: Law of Reciprocal Actions
• For every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction.
• The law can be more fully stated as, “Whenever
one body exerts force upon a second body, the
second body exerts an equal and opposite force
upon the first body.” That is, when the sun pulls
on a planet with the force of gravity, the planet
pulls on the sun with a force of equal magnitude.
But, because the sun is so much more massive
than the planet, Newton's second law says that
the sun will experience much less acceleration.
 Law of Universal Gravitation
• F = G m 1 m2 / r 2
• Every object in the Universe attracts every
other object with a force directed along the
line of centers for the two objects that is
proportional to the product of their masses
and inversely proportional to the square of
the separation between the two objects.
While the law does not explain what gravity is,
it does say how the force of gravity works
 Law of Universal Gravitation…
• What is the gravitational force that the sun
exerts on the earth? The earth on the sun? In
what direction do these act? ( M e = 5.98
×1024 and M s = 1.99×1030and the earth-sun
distance is 150×109 meters).
 Law of Universal Gravitation…
• First, consider the directions. The force acts along the direction
such that it attracts each body radially along a line towards their
common center of mass. For most practical purposes, this means a
line connecting the center of the sun to the center of the earth. The
magnitude of both forces is the same, as we would expect from
Newton's Third Law, and they act in opposite directions, both
attracting each other mutually. The magnitude is given by:
• If Mercury, Venus and the sun are aligned in a
right triangle, as shown, then calculate the
vector sum of the forces on Venus due to both
Mercury and the Sun. What is the direction
and magnitude of the resulting force?
(Sun-Venus distance r v= 108×109 meters,
Sun-Mercury distance r m = 57.6×109 meters,
mass of Sun M s = 1.99×1030 kilograms, mass
of Mercury M m = 3.3×1023 kilograms, mass of
Venus M v= 4.87×1024 kilograms).
• The magnitude of the force on Venus due to
the sun is given by:

• The distance between Mercury and Venus is

given by r mv = = 1.08×1011 meters. The
magnitude of the force from Mercury, then, is:
• The directions of these forces are along the lines
connecting the planets.
• If the size of the forces was comparable, we
would have to resolve each vector force into
components perpendicular and parallel to some
direction, and then sum these components in
order to find the final direction of the force.
• In this case however, the force due to the sun is
more than a million times greater than the force
due to Mercury, and so the net force is very well
approximated by the magnitude and direction of
the force due to the sun.
 Implications for the Planets
• The elliptical orbits of the planets have such small
eccentricities that, to a very good approximation, we can
think of them as circles. (Only very precise
measurements, like those available to Kepler, are able to
detect the difference.)
• This means that we can use the idea of uniform circular
motion to analyze planetary motion. In that section, we
revealed that a body in uniform circular motion was
constantly accelerating towards the center of its circular
track.
• Thus, according to Newton's first law of motion, there
must be a force acting on the planet that is always
directed toward the center of the orbit -- that is toward
the Sun!
 Implications for the Planets…
• Newton's second law of motion allows us to state
what the magnitude of that force must be. The
required force is just the mass of the Earth times
its acceleration.
• We know that the acceleration of an object moving
in uniform circular motion is A = V2/R. Thus, we
can calculate the force that is required to keep the
Earth on its circular path and compare it to
physical theories about what that force might be.
• This is what Newton later did, although he did it
first for the Moon rather than the Earth, to learn
about the force of Gravity.
 Implications for the Planets…
• Finally, let us consider an implication of the
``action-reaction'' law. If there is a force that attracts
the Earth toward the Sun, then there must be an equal
and opposite force attracting the Sun towards the Earth.
• Why, then, doesn't the Sun move? The answer is that it
does move, but by a very small amount since the mass
of the Sun is about half a million times that of the Earth.
Thus, when subjected to the equal and opposite force
required by the third law, it accelerates about half a
million times less than the Earth as well. For this reason,
to a very good approximation, we can treat the Sun as
stationary in our studies of planetary motion.
 Coordinate System Review
• Different kind of coordinates are used to
position objects in a two- or three-dimensional
space.
• Spatial coordinates (also known as global
coordinates) are used to locate objects either on
the Earth’s surface in a 3D space, or on the Earth’s
reference surface (ellipsoid or sphere) in a 2D
space.
• examples are the geographic coordinates in a
2D or 3D space and the geocentric coordinates,
also known as 3D Cartesian coordinates
 2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
• The most widely used global coordinate system
consists of lines of geographic latitude (phi
or φ) and longitude (lambda or λ ).
• Lines of equal latitude are called parallels.
• They form circles on the surface of the ellipsoid.
• Lines of equal longitude are called meridians and
they form ellipses (meridian ellipses) on the
ellipsoid.
• Both lines form the graticule when projected onto
a map plane.
2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
 2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
• Latitude is zero on the equator (φ = 0°), and
increases towards the two poles to maximum
values of φ = +90 (90°N) at the North Pole and φ =
- 90° (90°S) at the South Pole.
• The longitude (λ) is the angle between the
meridian ellipse which passes through Greenwich
and the meridian ellipse containing the point in
question. It is measured in the equatorial plane
from the meridian of Greenwich (λ = 0°) either
eastwards through λ= + 180° (180°E) or
westwards through λ = -180° (180°W).
 2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
• Latitude and longitude represent the geographic
coordinates (φ, λ) of a point P' with respect to the selected
reference surface.
• They are also called geodetic coordinates or ellipsoidal
coordinates when an ellipsoid is used to approximate the
shape of the Earth.
• Geographic coordinates are always given in angular units.
An example, the coordinates for the City hall in Enschede
are:
φ= 52° 13' 26.2" N, λ= 6° 53' 32.1" E.
These latitude and longitude coordinates are related to the
Amersfoort datum. Note that the use of a different reference
surface will result in a different latitude and longitude
 2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
• The Degrees:Minutes:Seconds (49°30'00"N, 123°
30'00"W) is the most common format, another
the Decimal Degrees (49.5000°, -123.5000°),
generally with 4-6 decimal numbers.
• Next to the geodetic (or geographic)
latitude (φ) there are two other type of latitudes:
– astronomic latitude
– geocentric latitude
 2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
• The astronomic latitude (φ) (figure below) is the angle
between the equatorial plane and the normal to the
Geoid (i.e. a plumb line).
• It differs from the geodetic (or geographic) latitude
only slightly, due to the slight deviations of the Geoid
from the reference ellipsoid.
• The astronomic latitude is the latitude which results
directly from observations of the stars, uncorrected
for vertical deflection, and applies only to positions on
the Earth's surface.
• Astronomic observations are used to establish local
horizontal (or geodetic) datums.
 2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
• The geocentric latitude (φ') is the angle
between the equatorial plane and a line from
the center of the ellipsoid (used to represent
the Earth).
• This value usually differs from the geodetic
latitude, unless the Earth is represented as a
perfect sphere. Both geocentric and geodetic
latitudes refer to the reference ellipsoid and
not the Earth.
2D geographic coordinates(φ, λ)
3D geographic coordinates (φ, λ, h)
• 3D geographic coordinates (φ, λ, h)are obtained
by introducing the ellipsoidal height h to the
system.
• The ellipsoidal height (h) of a point is the vertical
distance of the point in question above the
ellipsoid.
• It is measured in distance units along the
ellipsoidal normal from the point to the ellipsoid
surface. 3D geographic coordinates can be used to
define a position on the surface of the Earth
(point P in figure below).
3D geographic coordinates (φ, λ, h)
3D geographic coordinates (φ, λ, h)
• An alternative method of defining a 3D position on the
surface of the Earth is by means of geocentric
coordinates (x,y,z), also known as 3D Cartesian
coordinates.
• The system has its origin at the mass-centre of the Earth
with the X- and Y-axes in the plane of the equator.
• The X-axis passes through the meridian of Greenwich, and
the Z-axis coincides with the Earth's axis of rotation.
• The three axes are mutually orthogonal and form a
right-handed system. Geocentric coordinates can be used to
define a position on the surface of the Earth (point P in
figure below).
3D geographic coordinates (φ, λ, h)
3D geographic coordinates (φ, λ, h)
• It should be noted that the rotational axis of
the Earth changes its position over time
(referred to as polar motion).
• To compensate for this, the mean position of
the pole in the year 1903 (based on
observations between 1900 and 1905) has
been used to define the so-called
'Conventional International Origin' (CIO).
 2D Cartesian coordinates (X,Y)
• A flat map has only two dimensions: width (left to
right) and length (bottom to top). Transforming
the three dimensional Earth into a
two-dimensional map is subject of map
projections and coordinate transformations .
• Here, like in several other cartographic
applications, two-dimensional Cartesian
coordinates (x, y),also known as
planar rectangular coordinates, are used to
describe the location of any point in a map plane,
unambigiously.
 2D Cartesian coordinates (X,Y)
• The 2D Cartesian coordinate system is a system of
intersecting perpendicular lines, which contains two
principal axes, called the X- and Y-axis. The horizontal
axis is usually referred to as the X-axis and the vertical
the Y-axis (note that the X-axis is also sometimes
called Easting and the Y-axis the Northing).
• The intersection of the X- and Y-axis forms the origin.
The plane is marked at intervals by equally spaced
coordinate lines, called the map grid. Giving two
numerical coordinates x and y for point P, one can
now precisely and objectively specify any location P on
the map.
2D Cartesian coordinates (X,Y)
 2D Cartesian coordinates (X,Y)
• Normally, the coordinates x = 0 and y = 0 are
given to the origin. However, sometimes large
positive values are added to the origin
coordinates.
• This is to avoid negative values for
the x and y coordinates in case the origin of the
coordinate system is located inside the area of
interest. The point which then has the coordinates
x = 0 and y = 0 is called the false origin.
 2D polar coordinates (a,d)
• Another possibility of defining a point in a
plane is by polar coordinates (a,d). This is the
distance d from the origin to the point
concerned and the angle a between a fixed (or
zero) direction and the direction to the point.
• The angle a is called azimuth or bearing and
is measured in a clockwise direction. It is given
in angular units while the distance d is
expressed in length units.
2D polar coordinates (a,d)
 2D polar coordinates (a,d)
• Bearings are always related to a fixed
direction (initial bearing) or a datum line. In
principle, this reference line can be chosen
freely. However, in practice three different
directions are widely used: True North, Grid
North and Magnetic North .
• The corresponding bearings are called: true
(or geodetic) bearing, grid bearing and
magnetic (or compass) bearing.
 2D polar coordinates (a,d)
• The transformation of polar coordinates (a,d) into Cartesian coordinates (x,y) is
done when field measurements, angular and distance measurements are
transformed into map coordinates. The equation for this transformation is:

• The inverse equation is:

 Interconversion of time
• Relation between degrees and hours of time
– The degree may be converted into hours and vice
versa by the following relations
• 360 °= 24 hours
– 15 °= 1 hr 1hr=15°
– 1 °= 4 min 1min= 15’
– 15’= 1m 1s= 15’’
– 1’= 4sec
– 15’’=1sec
• Express the following angles in hours, minutes
and seconds
– 50°12’48’’
– 8°18’6’
– 258°36’30’’

• Express the following hours etc. into degree

minutes and seconds:
• 4 h 34 m 13s
• 18 h 11m 38s
 Conversion of local time to standard
time and vice versa
• The difference between the standard time and
the local time at a place is equal to the difference
of longitudes between the place and the standard
meridian.
• If the meridian of the place is situated east of the
standard meridian, the sun, while moving
apparently from east to west, will transit the
meridian of the place earlier than the standard
meridian.
• Hence the local time will be greater than the
standard time.
• Similarly, if the meridian of the place is to the
west of the standard meridian, the sun will transit
the standard meridian earlier than the meridian of
the place and hence the local time will be lesser
than the standard time. Thus we have:
– L.M.T = Standard M.T ± Difference in the longitudes
(E/W)
Use (+) sign if the meridian of place is to the east of the
standard meridian, and (-) sign if it to the west of the
standard meridian.
If the local time is to be found from the given Greenwish
time, we have
L.M.T = G.M.T+ longitude of the place (E\W)
• Q. The standard time meridian in the India is
82°30’ E. If the standard time at any instant is
20 hours 24 minutes 6 seconds. Find the local
mean time for two places having longitudes
– 20°E
– 20°W
Q. Find the G.M.T corresponding to the following
L.M.T
a. 9 hr 40 m 12 s at a place in longitude 42°36’W.
b. 4 hr 32 m 10 s at a place in longitude 56°32’E.