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-   -   New Year 2009 Delayed By One Second (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=297520)

  • Dec 31, 2008, 12:47 PM
    ja77
    New Year 2009 Delayed By One Second
    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 :)
  • Dec 31, 2008, 12:50 PM
    Curlyben
    Leap seconds are added to the end of the OLD year.
    I remember a few of them.
  • Dec 31, 2008, 01:00 PM
    ja77
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Curlyben View Post
    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 ? ;)
  • Dec 31, 2008, 01:53 PM
    Curlyben
    Try this: Leap second - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Jan 1, 2009, 04:54 AM
    Capuchin

    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.
  • Jan 1, 2009, 05:24 AM
    ja77
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Capuchin View Post
    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 :)

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