It’s Leap Day Today & Google Is Celebrating the Rare Occasion With An Animated Doodle | Earth Indian

New Delhi: After the year 2016, 2020 will witness the return of February 29 to our calendars because it’s a leap year, in case you forgot! On this special occasion, Google has dedicated a fun little doodle to celebrate the day which only comes around once every four years.

Commemorating the 29th day of February or jump day, the doodle features a quirky and colourful animation. Today’s Leap day doodle is being displayed on Google’s home pages around the world and leads to a search for Leap Day 2020.

The last time, in 2016, Google celebrated the day with hopping bunnies as the logo by artist Olivia Huynh.

Why is a Leap year?

A Leap Year is a year where one extra day is added to our calendars, making it 366 days in total, giving us one extra day than the usual 365 days.

The reason for it is that one full rotation of the Earth takes the Sun back to the same place in the sky, taking 24 hours. However, the Earth’s full orbit takes 365.2422 days and so nearly every four years, we add an extra day.

That’s why the leap day is added onto the month of February. So, basically it’s a corrective measure, to keep our calendar year synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal year.

If we don’t follow this, after 100 years, the calendar would be around 24 days out of sync.

 

 

 

 

 

By Shivam Urkude || Earth Indian