![]() ![]() John Lowe, who led the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s Time and Frequency Division, stated, "When the Egyptians adopted this calendar they were aware that there was a problem. ![]() However, there were still problems with this system. Before 3100 B.C., the early Egyptians, Romans, and Sumerians used lunar calendars to track time, but they also had to add extra days to make their calendars match the Earth's orbit. Getty Images Who came up with the idea?Īccording to National Geographic, the idea to add extra days to our calendar dates back centuries. First, that it's evenly divisible by four and, second, years that are divisible by 100 (century years such as 1900 or 2000) can't be leap years unless they are also divisible by 400 (1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was). In essence, for a year to be a leap year, it must follow two rules. ![]() The Old Farmer's Almanac explained the math behind leap years. You can expect a leap year every year that's divisible by four, though with a few exceptions. February 29th is always the day added to the calendar on a leap year, and it's known as leap day. What is a leap year?īasically, it's year with 366 days instead of the usual 365. Here, we explain some leap day facts, debunk some myths, and answer all of your questions about this odd quirk in our calendars. Whether you're upset that the day prolongs the wintery month of February or looking forward to the extra time, leap day certainly brings about opinions and much confusion. The elusive February 29th shows its face once again at the end of this month, giving us all some bonus time in 2020. It may be convenient if you need to contact people from different countries and states.You might have noticed that the calendar has an extra day this year. We also created the time zones converter that finds the exact time in various places worldwide. The submarine transatlantic telephone cable opens. First broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest. □ġ956 - The year of the Suez Crisis in Egypt. Launch of the first navigation system satellite, Transit. Elvis Presley returns home from Germany to the United States, finishing his military duty. Viet Cong is created, increasing the tension in Vietnam. □ġ960 - The year of Africa - 17 African countries declare independence. The United States conducts its last nuclear test. □ġ992 - Space shuttle Atlantis takes off from Cape Canaveral carrying equipment to study global warming. The first presentation of the Human Genome Project. Concorde, the fastest plane worldwide, crashes after taking-off from Paris. The first resident crew enters the International Space Station. Bush is elected the president of the United States of America for the first time. □Ģ000 - The start of the new millennium - George W. CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the so-called God particle (Higgs boson). Oh, what a year it was! □Ģ012 - Queen Elizabeth II marks the 60th anniversary of her coronation. Fires in Australia, floods in other parts of the world, threats of World War III, and the global coronavirus pandemic. Our leap year calculator allows you to find the number of leap years online within a given range - that's how we know that there were precisely 30 leap years since 1900 until 2020. And that's why we have to add 1 extra day every four years, to eliminate the possibility of accumulating additional days and enlarging the differences between the calendars. This moment happens every four years (6h * 4 = 24h). ![]() This time is usually equal to 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds.Īs we can see, these almost 6 extra hours add up over the years, and eventually create a difference of 1 day between our calendar and the solar calendar. The solar (tropical) year describes the time it takes for the sun to be in the exact same position in the sky. One extra day, added every four years aligns our calendar to the solar calendar. Why do we need to add an extra day every four years? (Our day of the week calculator can tell you the exact day it will fall on.) The extra day is added in February, creating a new date: the 29th of February, which occurs once in four years. Leap years have 366 days instead of the regular 365 days. We could probably stop there, but we'd love to elaborate: ![]()
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