leap year

     

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing one or more extra ays (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, an extra month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal year. For example, in the Gregorian calendar, February has 29 days in a leap year instead of the usual 28 - and consequently, the year lasts 366 days instead of the common 365. Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of full days, a calendar that had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that is not a leap year is called a common year.

Trivia about leap year

  • Unlike 2000, 1900 wasn't one of these, so Thursday, March 1 followed Wednesday, Feb. 28
  • Anthony, a city straddling Texas & New Mexico, celebrates only once every 4 years as this "Capital of the World"
  • This type of year is also known as a bissextile year

Found pages about leap year