"Or closest" is a mildly significant caveat. The real Sun and the imaginary “mean Sun,” from which mean solar time is measured, may be as much as 16 minutes ap

"Or closest" is a mildly significant caveat. The real Sun and the imaginary “mean Sun,” from which mean solar time is measured, may be as much as 16 minutes apart because during the course of the year the apparent motion of the real Sun against the background of the stars (the ecliptic) alternately slows down and speeds up. https://www.britannica.com/science/solar-time https://www.britannica.com/science/solar-time The east–west component [of the analemma] results from the nonuniform rate of change of the Sun's right ascension, governed by combined effects of Earth's axial tilt and orbital eccentricity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma