- Jan 3, 2001
- 41,884
- 2,124
- 126
Today is Feb 29th! Happy Leap Day!
Pope Gregory XIII created the 365 day calendar in 1582, which was based on how long it takes the earth to travel around the sun. The problem is, it actually takes 365.25 days, so every 4th year an extra day is added to the year. It became evident that this system wasn't accurate enough however as it takes the earth EXACTLY 365.242199 days to travel around the sun. To make up for that discrepancy, Leap Year is actually skipped every three out of four century years not divisible by 400. Therefore, the year 2000 was a Leap Year, but 1900, 1800, and 1700 were not!
How 'bout that?
Pope Gregory XIII created the 365 day calendar in 1582, which was based on how long it takes the earth to travel around the sun. The problem is, it actually takes 365.25 days, so every 4th year an extra day is added to the year. It became evident that this system wasn't accurate enough however as it takes the earth EXACTLY 365.242199 days to travel around the sun. To make up for that discrepancy, Leap Year is actually skipped every three out of four century years not divisible by 400. Therefore, the year 2000 was a Leap Year, but 1900, 1800, and 1700 were not!
How 'bout that?