Apparent solar time is the hour angle of the Sun plus 12 hours: a sundial shows it, and it is noon when the Sun crosses the meridian. Mean solar time is the hour angle, plus 12 hours, of a fictitious mean Sun that moves along the celestial equator at a uniform rate, completing a turn in a tropical year. Their difference, apparent minus mean, is the equation of time.
Earth and Space Sciences · Glossary
What is Solar time?
Also known as: apparent solar time · mean solar time · equation of time