Gaussian year
Encyclopedia
A Gaussian year is defined as 365.2568983 day
s. It was adopted by Carl Friedrich Gauss
as the length of the sidereal year
in his studies of the dynamics of the solar system.
A slightly different value is now accepted as the length of the sidereal year,
and the value accepted by Gauss is given a special name.
A particle of negligible mass, that orbits a body of 1 solar mass in this period, has a mean axis for its orbit of 1 astronomical unit
by definition. The value is derived from Kepler's third law
as
where
Day
A day is a unit of time, commonly defined as an interval equal to 24 hours. It also can mean that portion of the full day during which a location is illuminated by the light of the sun...
s. It was adopted by Carl Friedrich Gauss
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum...
as the length of the sidereal year
Sidereal year
A sidereal year is the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun once with respect to the fixed stars. Hence it is also the time taken for the Sun to return to the same position with respect to the fixed stars after apparently travelling once around the ecliptic. It was equal to at noon 1 January...
in his studies of the dynamics of the solar system.
A slightly different value is now accepted as the length of the sidereal year,
and the value accepted by Gauss is given a special name.
A particle of negligible mass, that orbits a body of 1 solar mass in this period, has a mean axis for its orbit of 1 astronomical unit
Astronomical unit
An astronomical unit is a unit of length equal to about or approximately the mean Earth–Sun distance....
by definition. The value is derived from Kepler's third law
Kepler's laws of planetary motion
In astronomy, Kepler's laws give a description of the motion of planets around the Sun.Kepler's laws are:#The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci....
as
where
- k is the Gaussian gravitational constantGaussian gravitational constantThe Gaussian gravitational constant is an astronomical constant first proposed by German polymath Carl Friedrich Gauss in his 1809 work Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus conicis solem ambientum , although he had already used the concept to great success in predicting the...
.