Leap Year Day

“Yes, leap years are quite fascinating! They are necessary to keep our modern-day Gregorian calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. Without leap years, our calendar would slowly drift out of sync with the seasons.

The rule for leap years in the Gregorian calendar is that a year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, but if it is also divisible by 100, it is not a leap year, unless it is also divisible by 400, in which case it is. This adjustment helps correct for the fact that a year is not exactly 365.25 days long, but rather about 365.2425 days.

This means that every four years, an extra day is added to February, making it 29 days long instead of the usual 28. This extra day, February 29th, is known as leap day. Leap years are important for keeping our calendar seasons in line with the Earth’s orbit around the sun, and they add a bit of intrigue to our annual timekeeping!”