<p>Earth rotates approximately 15&quot; per second, 15' per minute, 15 degrees per hour.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-11T18:03:16.490Z
2024-02-11T18:03:16.490Z
John Doty
<p>Usually observatories have time servers on site for reasonable time keeping.</p>
<p>If I have 1 second of time error, how will this impact sidereal tracking? By how much?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-11T23:36:39.367Z
It would only be an issue on initial alignment (by 15 arcseconds).  After the alignment is corrected, the mount will track at the sidereal rate.  Mechanical and atmospheric effects are usually more of a factor.
Greg Miller
<observational-astronomy>
how much does 1 second of error impact sidereal tracking?
Adrian
# how much does 1 second of error impact sidereal tracking?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-02-11)

Usually observatories have time servers on site for reasonable time keeping.

If I have 1 second of time error, how will this impact sidereal tracking? By how much?

**Tags:** observational-astronomy
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It would only be an issue on initial alignment (by 15 arcseconds).  After the alignment is corrected, the mount will track at the sidereal rate.  Mechanical and atmospheric effects are usually more of a factor.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-02-11. Score: 3

Earth rotates approximately 15" per second, 15' per minute, 15 degrees per hour.


---

