Degrees per hour to Degrees per minute
°/h
°/min
Conversion History
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Quick Reference Table (Degrees per hour to Degrees per minute)
| Degrees per hour (°/h) | Degrees per minute (°/min) |
|---|---|
| 0.001 | 0.000016666666666632 |
| 0.01 | 0.000166666666666752 |
| 0.55 | 0.009166666666666608 |
| 6 | 0.100000000000000008 |
| 15 | 0.249999999999999912 |
| 360 | 6.000000000000000048 |
| 3,600 | 60.000000000000000048 |
About Degrees per hour (°/h)
Degrees per hour (°/h) is used for very slow angular motions, particularly in navigation, geophysics, and astronomy. High-precision gyroscopes are rated by their drift in °/h — a navigation-grade ring-laser gyro may drift less than 0.01°/h, while a consumer MEMS gyro drifts hundreds of degrees per hour. Earth's rotation corresponds to 15°/h (360° ÷ 24 h), which is why the Sun appears to move 15° per hour across the sky. Telescope drive motors use this rate to compensate for Earth's rotation during long exposures.
Earth rotates at exactly 15°/h, so astronomical telescope drives track stars at 15°/h. Navigation-grade laser gyroscopes achieve drift below 0.01°/h. The Moon moves about 0.55°/h against the background stars.
About Degrees per minute (°/min)
Degrees per minute (°/min) measures slow angular rotation in a unit accessible without decimals. Clock hands move at well-known rates in °/min: the minute hand at 6°/min, the hour hand at 0.5°/min. Solar tracking mounts move at about 0.25°/min to follow the Sun across the sky. Slow geological rotations, antenna steering drives, and industrial rotary kilns are among systems where °/min is convenient. One degree per minute equals 1/60 of a degree per second.
A clock minute hand sweeps at exactly 6°/min. A solar panel tracker follows the Sun at ~0.25°/min. A slowly rotating cement kiln may turn at 1–5°/min.
Degrees per hour – Frequently Asked Questions
How fast does the International Space Station orbit in degrees per hour?
The ISS completes one orbit (360°) in about 92 minutes, giving roughly 235°/hr — almost 16 times faster than Earth's rotation. That is why astronauts see 16 sunrises every 24 hours. At an altitude of ~408 km, the station covers about 7.66 km/s of ground track. If you could watch it from a fixed point in space, it would visibly sweep through the sky at a rate where one degree takes only about 15 seconds.
Why are gyroscope drift rates measured in degrees per hour?
Because even tiny drift accumulates into serious navigation errors over a flight or voyage. A navigation-grade ring-laser gyroscope drifts less than 0.01°/hr; over a 10-hour flight that is only 0.1° of heading error. A cheap MEMS gyro drifting 10°/hr would accumulate 100° of error in the same time — useless for navigation. Expressing drift in °/hr makes the operational impact immediately obvious to a pilot or engineer.
How do telescope mounts use the 15°/hr rate for star tracking?
Equatorial telescope mounts have a motorised right-ascension axis aligned with Earth's rotation axis. By driving that axis at exactly 15°/hr (one sidereal rate), the telescope counter-rotates against Earth's spin, keeping a star fixed in the eyepiece. Without this drive, stars would drift out of view in seconds at high magnification. Astrophotographers rely on it for long exposures without star trails.
How fast does the Moon move across the sky in degrees per hour?
The Moon's apparent motion has two components. It shares the sky's overall 15°/hr westward motion due to Earth's rotation. But it also orbits Earth, moving about 0.55°/hr eastward relative to the stars (360° ÷ 27.32 days ÷ 24 hr). The net effect: the Moon moves westward across the sky at roughly 14.5°/hr, which is why moonrise occurs about 50 minutes later each day.
Why does a Foucault pendulum appear to rotate at fewer than 15°/hr at most latitudes?
A Foucault pendulum's swing plane rotates relative to the floor at 15° × sin(latitude) per hour. At the North Pole (90°) that is the full 15°/hr; at 45° latitude it is about 10.6°/hr; at the equator it is zero. The pendulum always swings in a fixed plane in inertial space — it is the Earth rotating underneath it. The sine factor comes from the fact that only the vertical component of Earth's angular velocity vector projects into the pendulum's swing plane. Paris (48.9°N) sees about 11.3°/hr, which is why Foucault's original 1851 demonstration took most of a day to complete a visible rotation.
Degrees per minute – Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a clock minute hand move at exactly 6 degrees per minute?
A full circle is 360° and the minute hand completes it in 60 minutes: 360 ÷ 60 = 6°/min. It is one of those satisfying integer results in everyday physics. The hour hand, by contrast, moves at 0.5°/min (360° ÷ 720 minutes). At any given time, the angle between them changes at 5.5°/min — which is the key to solving those "when do the hands overlap?" puzzles.
How fast does a solar tracker panel rotate to follow the Sun?
The Sun crosses the sky at 15°/hr (360° ÷ 24 h), or 0.25°/min. A single-axis solar tracker matches this rate, adjusting continuously or in small steps throughout the day. Dual-axis trackers also compensate for the Sun's seasonal altitude change — a much slower adjustment of roughly 0.5–1° per week. The daily tracking rate of 0.25°/min is slow enough that you cannot see the panel moving.
What rotational speed in °/min do cement kilns and industrial drums operate at?
Large rotary cement kilns typically rotate at 1–5°/min (roughly 0.003–0.014 RPM). That glacial pace is intentional: raw material needs 30–60 minutes to travel the kiln's 50–100 meter length, slowly heating to 1,450°C. Faster rotation would push material through before it fully reacts. Industrial drum dryers and composting drums operate in a similar 2–10°/min range.
How do you convert degrees per minute to RPM?
Divide by 360. One full revolution is 360°, so degrees per minute ÷ 360 = RPM. The clock minute hand at 6°/min is 6/360 = 0.01667 RPM — one revolution per hour. A turntable at 33⅓ RPM is 33.33 × 360 = 12,000°/min. For rad/min, multiply °/min by π/180 ≈ 0.01745.
What °/min rate does a rotating restaurant turn at?
Most revolving restaurants complete one full rotation in 45–90 minutes, which translates to 4–8°/min. The slow rate is deliberate — fast enough that diners get a complete panoramic view during a meal, but slow enough that you do not notice the motion or feel any inertia. The famous revolving restaurant atop the BT Tower in London took about 22 minutes per revolution (16.4°/min) when it operated.