Two key subtypes:
真太阳时 (zhēn tàiyángshí, 'apparent/true solar time' — what a sundial reads) and
平太阳时 (píng tàiyángshí, 'mean solar time' — the averaged version that clocks display, smoothing out the Earth's elliptical orbit). The difference between them across the year is the 'equation of time' (
时差).
