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ENTITY reports on when is the next leap day

It’s hard to keep track of every upcoming leap day since it only occurs once every four years.

So if you’re wondering, “When is the next leap day?” it’s on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. You know, since the last leap day was in 2016.

But we get that it’s hard to keep up with the pattern. I mean who can actually remember the last time leap day happened?

So, to understand when the next Leap Day is, you have to understand when and how leap day started.

The history of leap day

ENTITY reports on when is the next leap day

For the past 400 years, we’ve followed the Gregorian calendar, which syncs up with how long it takes for Earth to orbit the sun once. But a calendar year isn’t equal to how long it takes for Earth to orbit the sun. It takes approximately 365.2422 days, which translates to 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds.

To make up for the extra .25 hours of our day that we lose everyday, we added an extra day every four years.

Originally, the Roman Calendar had 355 days with an extra 22-day month every two years. But even Julius Caesar thought that was ridiculous. So Caesar had his astronomer, Sosigenes of Alexandria, create a simpler solution. Sosiegenes came up with the idea of changing the calendar to 365 days a year with an extra day added every four years to make up for extra .25.

Caesar implemented this suggestion in 46 B.C.

How often a leap year actually occurs

So, a leap year should occur every four years since 46 B.C. right? Well, not really because 500 years later, Pope Gregory XIII came along and his astronomers decided to tweak the calendar to make it more accurate, so they agreed to lose three days every 400 years.

Since it actually takes Earth 365.2422 to orbit the sun, adding an extra day every four years added too much time, so the Gregorian calendar balanced everything out.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582.

Due to this, leap year only occurs on century years that are divisible by 400. So, 1700, 1800 and 1900 weren’t leap years but 1600 and 2000 were.

Thus, sometimes a leap year happens once every eight years instead of four.

How to know when the next leap day is

ENTITY reports on when is the next leap day

Instead of Googling, “When is the next leap year?” every year,  you can always calculate it yourself. Since leap years occur every four years, leap years are evenly divisible by four, such as 2012, 2014 and 2016. But if it’s a century year and it’s divisible by 100 and not 400, then it’s not a leap year.

So, when leap year comes around again in 2020, you’ll be prepared. You can remember to watch the leap day episode of “30 Rock”  or even celebrate a friend’s leap day birthday. The special day only comes around once every four years (and sometimes once every eight years) so you can’t miss out on the extra 24 hours.

What would you do with your extra day? Would you throw a party? Hang out with friends? Go skydiving? The possibilities are endless.

Let us know in the comments below or tweet us at @entity_mag.

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