Leap Day 2024: 29th February
29th February is considered as leap day. The year 2024 is a leap year. There are 29 days in February in leap years. This year it has come on 29th February, as opposed to the regular 28 days for the month.
To keep the calendar balanced, the date of 29th February is added to the month of February every year.
Leap Day 2024: Why is Google’s doodle special?
People are excited to see Google’s doodle for any event. 29th February comes after four years, so the way Google has also celebrated this day with its new doodle has caught extra attention on the internet.
Google’s doodles are usually about a person, event, or program which is related to a particular country, but the doodle of Leap Year Celebration is universal.
How did Leap Day come into being?
In earlier times, days were determined by the position of the sun. But the demand of time brought the calendar before the people. Julius Caesar added an extra day to his Julian calendar in 45 BC. But even beyond this, a difference of 11 minutes per solar year was visible.
Subsequently, in the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, which included the leap day of February 29, indicating that the leap day would fall in a year that would be divisible by 4 rather than by 100.
Also, the year divided by 400 will also be called leap year, it was ordained and so it remains.
Why are leap years called leap?
Why is leap day important?
There are 23.262222 hours in a day on Earth, not 24 hours. At the same time, if the date of February 29 is added every year, then the calendar will advance by 44 minutes, due to which a distinct difference will be created between all the seasons and months.
The day February 29 helps create a balance between the calendar and the Earth’s orbit. If this is not a leap day, then the heat coming in May-June will reach in the month of November.
With the arrival of 29th February, all the seasons come in their correct month every year. This maintains balance in the calendar.