Saturday 30 June 2012

Enjoy the leap second!

Tonight there will be a 'leap second' - a tiny correction to our calendar because the rotation of the Earth is not absolutely constant.  The earth is slowing down - very slowly.

A leap second - picture from here

Tonight there will be an 11:59:60 p.m., just one second after 11:59:59 p.m. and just before 12:00:00 midnight.

In principle that means that we get a lie in tomorrow morning.  Enjoy it while it lasts.  If you are suffering from jet-lag at the moment, this is for you!

1 comment:

Plasma Engineer said...

Or did it happen one hour earlier because of daylight saving time - or is it an hour later. Yes - later!