Leap years exist because while the world follows a 365-day Gregorian calendar, it actually takes the planet a little bit more than a year to orbit the sun. The extra day keeps calendars and seasons from gradually falling out of sync and impacting harvesting, planting and other cycles based on the seasons.
This February is a little longer than usual. It's a leap year , and today — Thursday, Feb. 29 — is Leap Day. The calendar oddity means this year is actually 366 days long, instead of the regular 365. Here's why leap year s occur. What is the purpose of a leap year ? Leap years exist because while the world follows a 365-day Gregorian calendar, it actually takes the planet a little bit more than a year to orbit the sun.
It takes Earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to orbit the sun, according to NASA — and while that is rounded down to the 365 days we recognize as a typical year, those nearly six extra hours don't disappear. Instead, leap years are added to account for the difference. The extra day keeps calendars and seasons from gradually falling out of sync and impacting harvesting, planting and other cycles based on the seasons. Without Leap Days, in 100 years, calendars would be 24 days off, CBS Minnesota reported, and in 700 years, Northern Hemisphere summers would begin in December. 'For example, say that July is a warm, summer month where you liv
Leap Year Calendar Orbit Sun Sync Seasons
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