The Sirius Research Group

I recently came across your article : Time Equivalence of the Tropical Year and the Sidereal Year
I'm pleased to see that you and I have independently come to many of the same conclusions
regarding earth's orbital period - as well as the conclusion that precession theory is a myth.

some time ago I worked out a formula for calculating the orbital period (in SI seconds)
from the sidereal rotation period - based on Alpha Canis Majoris, and the mean solar day.

starting with the known orbital period for J1900 : 31 566 925 ,97474 s
subtracting 5,3 ms/y from years 1901 - 2006
gives the current orbital period for J2006 : 31 566 925 ,41294 s

my estimate of the correct sidereal rotation period for the earth = 86164 ,0924 s
equal to the rotational transit of Alpha Canis Majoris

dividing the orbital period by the rotation period gives the number of rotations per orbit :

subtracting 1 from this sum then gives the number of days in the current tropical year :

dividing the orbital period by this sum gives the current value for the mean solar day

S * Pr = 7 444 577 745 ,0220884607226534946009
( S - Pr ) = 235 ,90947621181814621717636291
S * Pr / ( d - Pr ) = 31 566 925 ,41294

Po = orbital period in seconds
Pr = rotational period in seconds
S = mean solar day in seconds

the mathematical perfection here is in my opinion too obvious to be a coincidence.

with the number of sidereal rotations per orbit being exactly the number of mean solar days + 1
and the orbital period being the product of the mean solar day x the rotation period,
divided by the difference between them

the fact that it's so simple and obvious makes me wonder how it could be ignored for centuries by virtually every astronomer on the planet (?)

in any case I enjoyed your article very much,
in fact it's restored a bit of my lost confidence in peer reviewed astronomy as a whole

February 1, 2006

Hello Dorian,

Thank you for your kind and informative letter with the detailed calculations of Earth's orbital period. I am glad to hear that you have independently confirmed the fact that the mean solar day (despite its increase in duration) is rigorously based upon the precise length of the tropical year, which is a 360° orbit contrary to the fundamental axiom of lunisolar precession geometry & mathematics.

Your computations furthermore seem to verify the fact that the observed mean transit time of Sirius (86164.0924 s) is commensurate with Earth's current 360° orbital period for J2006 of 31556925.41294 s. Although I am not aware that this latter data has been officially published, I suspect this length would also effect eventually the insertion of leap seconds (see also http://www.siriusresearchgroup.com/articles/second.shtml ).

As for the sidereal rotation period of Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) I think it is important to stress the point again that in practice a correction for the daily precession input in the formula does not apply to Sirius.

Our theory about precession and its cause might be wrong, but there appears to be no scientific evidence to support that concluding notion.

what is you're personal opinion regarding the proposed UTC leap second to leap hour policy?
personally I would be in favour of a revised (augmented) SI definition of the second
redefined as 9 192 631 990 periods of Cs-133 radiation

which would effectively eliminate any further need for leap seconds
however I doubt the BIPM would approve of such a proposal

Hi,

I think it all depends upon future technological advances, the precision required and mankinds dependance on it. The decimal system, for instance, is extremely convenient for such purposes. But given the brevity of human existence it seems to me that despite our need to force Great Nature into our concepts of time(cylces) she abhors exact integer relationships. Her striving is for simple perfection. :)

Uwe