Newton's comment on the Equation of Time

"Absolute time, in astronomy, is distinguished from relative, by the
equation or correlation of the vulgar time. For the natural days are
truly unequal, though they are commonly considered as equal and used
for a measure of time; astronomers correct this inequality for their
more accurate deducing of the celestial motions."

http://members.tripod.com/~gravitee/...tions.htm#time

It must seem strangely familiar now that the Equation of Time
represents the difference between the equable 24 hour day and the
natural unequal day but what might not be so obvious is what happens
after Newton describes the Equation of Time.

He correctly identifies the Equation of Time as the principles that
make the linking of geometry,astronomy and clocks possible however not
until his astronomical perceptions of orbital motion appear can anyone
fully appreciate that he has shifted to the sidereal value and
justification for the Earth by which later physicists understood his
work even though they had'nt a clue what he meant by absolute/relative
time -

Mach: on Newton's Absolute Time

"This absolute time can be measured by comparison with no motion; it
has therefore neither a practical nor a scientific value; and no one is
justified in saying that he knows aught about it. It is an idle
metaphysical conception."
Mach, Analyse der Empfindungen, 6th ed.


The resolution of the error may not be so simple but the recognition of
it is.Newton did not know how the pre- Copernican equable 24 hour day
translates into independent axial rotation in a heliocentric system and
he adopted the Flamsteed sidereal version as a working model.

Everyone is now stuck with the error,the work of the first
heliocentrists and their exquisite reasoning is in ruins and all
because of a remarkable series of errors centered on the Equation of
Time and the correct relationship between axial and orbital motion.

Ultimately kids are receiving the insincerity passed from one
generation to the next,an example among many is the NASA explanation
based on daylight/darkness asymmetry,again,it is just another
fabrication in a world that has known too many .

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/as...s/980116c.html

There is no dignity in your silence for if it serves your pleasure to
call yourselves astronomers by virtue of owning a telescope then
neither Copernicus nor Kepler were astronomers.I have no recourse than
appeal to decency for none of the principles which correct the errors
is difficult to understand and work with even if they are initially
unfamiliar.I have not condescended to anyone for if a participant comes
away understand what the Equation of Time is and its
practicalities,they would know a lot more than the late 19th
century/early 20th century guys such as Mach.

Your call.