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How Many Days a Leap Year Have

How Many Days a Leap Year Have

Edited By Team Careers360 | Updated on May 10, 2023 03:58 PM IST

What is a Leap Year?

A Leap year is a year with an extra day in February which is 29 which comes after every four years to the calendar year. An extra day added every four years keeps our calendar aligned correctly with the astronomical seasons, it is according to the Gregorian calendar (365 days) and a year according to the Earth's orbit around the sun which is approximately 365.25 days not the same as the length of time. Without this additional day, our calendar and the seasons would slowly get out of sync.

A leap year consists of 366 days instead of 365. Interestingly, a leap year does not end and begins on the same day of the week,but a non-leap year beings and ends on the same day of the week.

How to know if it's a leap year?

As a leap year happens every four years, which thankfully is a fairly simple pattern to remember.

The rule of a leap year:

  • A year is called a leap year if it is evenly divisible by 4.

  • As the year is divisible by 100, it cannot be a leap year unless it is divisible by 400.

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When is the next leap year?

As the table mentioned can tell you the next four leap years:

Leap year

Leap days

2024

Thursday, Feb 29

2028

Tuesday, Feb 29

2032

Sunday, Feb 29

2036

Friday, Feb 29

Why do we need a leap year?

The most important and common question that arises is why there is a need for a leap year. Is it just our calendar needs or just staying aligned with astronomical reasons?

As the earth around the sun takes approx 365.25 days, but you can find that our Gregorian calendar which is a nearly round number of 365. As the calendar does not account for the extra quarter of a day that earth requires to complete its orbit around the sun, it doesn't completely align with the solar year.

As the 0.25 difference gradually cumulates, the flow of year gets out of sync with the seasons. An extra day as a leap day to the calendar takes 4 years to bring the calendar in line.

There is no leap day if then the calendar would be off by 5 hours, 48 mins, and 45 seconds more each year.After a century the season would be cut off by 25 days which simply means the months of February and March would count as summer months in the Northern Hemisphere while today, they are considered as months of spring season.

A leap day adjusts the drift but not in a perfect way as a leap day every four years overcompensates by a few extra seconds each leap year has to add about three extra days every 10,000 years.

Some facts about Leap year

  • Leap day is also known as lady's day or ladies' privilege as it was like on that day women were free to propose to men.

  • In a leap year, the weather always changes on Fridays.

  • Leap year was never a good sheep year. It is an old proverb that is generally used for leap years.

  • Many people feel that those who are born on a leap day are very special or somewhat extraordinary.

Conclusion

In this article, you came to know everything about the leap year which enhances your knowledge and brings you clarity regarding the query on the leap year

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