03 Fev 2020 ILC Leiria
February is the month which lets us know whether we're in a Leap Year or not. Here's why!
The Gregorian Calendar, implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, is not the exact same length as a solar year, which refers to how long Earth takes to orbit around the sun. That exact figure is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.
This means that a calendar year should, in fact, be approximately 365.25 days. However, it is quite difficult to show a quarter of a day on a calendar so the solution is to wait until four quarter-days have accumulated, making one full day – February 29th. This is why every four years we have a "leap year," and one full extra day is added to the calendar.
We call these 366-day years a “Leap Year” because that is precisely what dates do. In a sequence of non-leap years, the day of the week advances by one day – i.e. if December 9th was a Monday, it will be a Tuesday the following year. The interesting fact arises when in 2020, New Year's Day, January 1st, was a Wednesday and next year, in 2021, January 1st will fall on a Friday, thus advancing two days and “leaping over” Thursday in the process!
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This means that a calendar year should, in fact, be approximately 365.25 days. However, it is quite difficult to show a quarter of a day on a calendar so the solution is to wait until four quarter-days have accumulated, making one full day – February 29th. This is why every four years we have a "leap year," and one full extra day is added to the calendar.
We call these 366-day years a “Leap Year” because that is precisely what dates do. In a sequence of non-leap years, the day of the week advances by one day – i.e. if December 9th was a Monday, it will be a Tuesday the following year. The interesting fact arises when in 2020, New Year's Day, January 1st, was a Wednesday and next year, in 2021, January 1st will fall on a Friday, thus advancing two days and “leaping over” Thursday in the process!