Astronomy explains that there is a precise relationship between the Earth and the Sun that determines the duration of a year. After all, it is this cycle that marks the passage of time and directly influences the seasons.
But did you know that our Gregorian calendar needs adjustments to keep in line with the solar year?
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According to experts, the Earth it takes about 365 days and a few hours to circle the Sun completely. This length is known as a tropical year and is measured from the March equinox.
However, the traditional calendar has exactly 365 days in a year. If we do nothing, we would lose nearly six hours annually, which would result in significant misalignment over time.
To adjust this, there is the leap year, which has an extra day on the calendar to compensate for this imbalance. Learn more about the topic!
Every four years, we have the famous February 29th, which characterizes and defines the leap year. This extra date is added to the calendar to make up for lost hours and synchronize it with the solar year.
It may seem like a small thing, but missing that special day would result in a calendar misfit in a staggering 24 days in just one century.
Interestingly, even with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, there is a discrepancy of 11 minutes and 14 seconds each year. Such a difference was countered by the old Julian calendar, but current accuracy is guaranteed with the current calendar.
The story begins with the Julian calendar, which established the norm of adding an extra day every four years. However, this rule did not apply to centuries divisible by 400. This means that, at the time, any year divisible by four was considered a leap year.
Although this approach resulted in many leap years, it was not corrected until much later with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. The 11-minute discrepancy in the Julian calendar led to a loss of up to 10 days in the year 1582 AD. W.
To resolve this, Pope Gregory XIII created the Gregorian calendar, with a 10-day jump in October of that year. Additionally, February 29 was established as the official day to be included during leap years.
It was at that moment that the term “leap year” appeared and the rules for its correct insertion were established, putting an end to temporal gaps.
Leap years occur every four years, with the exception of years that are multiples of 100, as they are not divisible by 400. The annual periods with one extra day, the famous February 29th, are added to adjust the solar calendar to the civil calendar.
During these breaks, we have the opportunity to enjoy an additional day, breaking the routine and providing a little more time to celebrate, reflect and plan for the future.
So future leap years are:
In other words, we must prepare ourselves because next year we will have one more day!
