<P> Sidereal time / saɪˈdɪəriəl / is a time - keeping system that astronomers use to locate celestial objects . Using sidereal time it is possible to easily point a telescope to the proper coordinates in the night sky . Briefly, sidereal time is a "time scale that is based on Earth's rate of rotation measured relative to the fixed stars" rather than the Sun . </P> <P> From a given observation point, a star found at one location in the sky will be found at the same location on another night at the same sidereal time . This is similar to how the time kept by a sundial can be used to find the location of the Sun . Just as the Sun and Moon appear to rise in the east and set in the west due to the rotation of Earth, so do the stars . Both solar time and sidereal time make use of the regularity of Earth's rotation about its polar axis, solar time following the Sun while sidereal time roughly follows the stars . More exactly, sidereal time is the angle, measured from the observer's meridian, along the celestial equator, to the great circle that passes through the March equinox and both poles, and is usually expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds . Common time on a typical clock measures a slightly longer cycle, accounting not only for Earth's axial rotation but also for Earth's annual revolution around the Sun of slightly less than 1 degree per day (in fact to the nearest arcsecond, it takes 365.2422 days to revolve, therefore 360 degrees / 365.2422 days = 0.9856 ° or 59 ′ 8" per day, i.e., slightly less than 1 degree per day). </P>

The sidereal day is determined by the earth's rotation with respect to the stars