Taking the new calculations into account, Pope Gregory established a new calendar that included the “century rule.” The century rule stated that instead of consistently happening every four years, leap days would not be added in years ending in “00” unless the year was also divisible by four. “Caesar had the right idea, but his calendar continued to move noticeably out of sync, prompting a second calendar reform in 1582 from Pope Gregory XIII.” “By the late 1500s, the Julian Calendar had contributed to a 10-day difference in the calendar,” Krisciunas said. On the advice of an astronomer named Sosigenes, Caesar also added that every four years, an extra day would be added to Februarius (February) to account for the slightly longer length of the solar year.Īlthough Julius Caesar was the one who introduced the idea, it was later discovered that his math wasn’t exactly right. This new calendar was constructed around months of the year to create the 365-day calendar year. In 46 B.C., Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar. “After working with astronomers, Julius Caesar discovered a solution he believed would fix the inconsistency in the calendar system,” Krisciunas said. Julius Caesar, leader of the Roman Empire, was the first person who confronted this problem and sought to create a standardized calendar that reflected the seasons. This small difference is enough to cause the calendar to gradually get out of sync with the seasons. But Earth’s yearly trip around the sun takes a little longer than that (365.2422 days, to be exact). Most years, the calendar is made up of 365 days. “Adding an extra day every four years keeps our calendar aligned correctly with the astronomical seasons.” Why Leap Years? “Leap years are used as a way to reconcile the calendar,” Krisciunas said. Without leap years, the calendar year would continue to drift away from the solar year over time-meaning that eventually the winter months would be in the summer and vice versa. Due to this extra day, leap years have 366 days. Leap days are extra days added to the calendar year to synchronize it with Earth’s solar orbit. Kevin Krisciunas, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Texas A&M University College of Science, explained that the necessity for leap years comes from the “messiness” of our solar system. That is because leap day happens only once approximately every four years-and 2020 is a leap year!ĭr. You may notice that this date didn’t appear on last year’s calendar, or the year before that, or the year before that. Kevin Krisciunas, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, explains how Leap Day helps keep our calendars in sync with the Earth’s solar orbit.įebruary 29th.
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