View Full Version : New Year 2009 Delayed By One Second
ja77
Dec 31, 2008, 12:47 PM
Is it during a leap year or after a leap year that the extra leap second is added to the count down for the New Year ?
Also if this second was not added what would the effect be on the ultra-accurate atomic clocks.
Happy New Year all :)
Curlyben
Dec 31, 2008, 12:50 PM
Leap seconds are added to the end of the OLD year.
I remember a few of them.
ja77
Dec 31, 2008, 01:00 PM
Leap seconds are added to the end of the OLD year.
I remember a few of them.
Thank you Curlyben, do you know when they started ? ;)
Curlyben
Dec 31, 2008, 01:53 PM
Try this: Leap second - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second)
Capuchin
Jan 1, 2009, 04:54 AM
There were 2 seconds between 31st Dec 2008 23:59:59 UTC and 1st Jan 2009 00:00:00 UTC. Normally there is only 1. (at my new years countdown, I counted 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, Happy New Year!) :cool:
It has nothing to do with a leap year. Leap years have extra days.
If they weren't added, then the clock would simply be out of sync by 1 second. This means that the time on the atomic clock would be off from the time as derived from the position of the sun by 1 second.
ja77
Jan 1, 2009, 05:24 AM
There were 2 seconds between 31st Dec 2008 23:59:59 UTC and 1st Jan 2009 00:00:00 UTC. Normally there is only 1. (at my new years countdown, I counted 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, Happy New Year!) :cool:
It has nothing to do with a leap year. Leap years have extra days.
If they werent added, then the clock would simply be out of sync by 1 second. This means that the time on the atomic clock would be off from the time as derived from the position of the sun by 1 second.
Thanks for the info :)