Happy Leap Year!

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Our calendar has 365 days in a year, because that’s pretty much how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. The problem is that in reality it takes the Earth around 365 ¼ days (actually 365.24219 days) to circle the Sun (that’s a solar year), which means our calendar is out by around a quarter of a day a year.

That discrepancy was spotted a while back.

In 45 B.C. a decree by Julius Caesar began the practice of adding an extra day every four years, with the creation of the Julian calendar — making up for those quarter days.

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5 Responses to Happy Leap Year!

  1. czarina33's avatar czarina33 says:

    Have heard several explanations these last two days, and a couple of elaborate fixes. All in all, I vote for staying the way we are, and kicking the can down the road re any changes, preferably a couple of centuries…

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Reflection's avatar Reflection says:

    That should be “heaven help us”.

    Best to double-check… before hitting enter.

    Liked by 1 person

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