(Undated) - Every four years our calendars have an extra 29th day at the end of February.
But why do we have Leap Years?
Well, according to the Royal Greenwich Obervatory:
"The calendar year is 365 days long, unless the year is exactly divisible by 4, in which case an extra day is added to February to make the year 366 days long. If the year is the last year of a century, eg. 1800, 1900, 2000, then it is only a leap year if it is exactly divisible by 400.
"The reason for these rules is to bring the average length of the calendar year into line with the length of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, so that the seasons always occur during the same months each year. The length of a year is 365.24219 days.
"In 46 BC Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar which was used in the west until 1582. In the Julian calendar each year contained 12 months and there were an average of 365.25 days in a year. This was achieved by having three years containing 365 days and one year containing 366 days. (In fact the leap years were not correctly inserted until 8 AD).
"The discrepancy between the actual length of the year, 365.24219 days, and the adopted length, 365.25 days, may not seem important but over hundreds of years the difference becomes obvious. The reason for this is that the seasons, which depend on the date in the tropical year, were getting progressively out of kilter with the calendar date. Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, instituted the Gregorian calendar, which has been used since then.
"The change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian involved the change of the simple rule for leap-years to the more complex one in which century years should only be leap-years if they were divisible by 400. For example, 1700, 1800 and 1900 are not leap-years whereas 2000 will be.
"The net effect is to make the adopted average length of the year 365.2425 days. The difference between this and the true length will not have a serious effect for many thousands of years. (The error amounts to about 3 days in 10,000 years.)
"The adoption of the Gregorian calendar was made in Catholic countries in 1582 with the elimination of 10 days, 4 October being followed by 15 October. The Gregorian calendar also stipulated that the year should start on 1 January. In non-Catholic countries the change was made later."
(source: http://www.nmm.ac.uk)
Leap Day is also a special day for those people who beat the big odds and happened to be born on this day.
Several residents across Northeast Indiana are celebrating birthdays today. And many people emailed Indiana's NewsCenter to have those lucky birthdays known.
So Happy Birthday to the following "Leapies"!
Lizzie Erexson - 16 years old
Deb Barton - "11" leap years old
Amy Douglas of Ashley - "11" leap years old
Casey Kenner - 12 years old
Jody Irick - "10" leap years old
Betty Hood
Jeremy Hall of Angola - -20 years old
Bill Cooley - "19" leap years old
Abby Ninde Clamme of Portland
Eli Clem of Hicksville, Ohio - 4 years old
Fontella "Bonnie" Brim
Heather Smith of Fort Wayne - 20 years old
Paul Foust of Wabash - "18" leap years old
Dennis Maude of Fort Wayne - "15" leap years old
Larry & Terry Overmyer of Payne, Ohio - 14 years old
Jordon Lenwell of Churubusco - 8 years old
Barb Lucas of Huntington
Trina Shideler of Huntington - "11" leap years old
Michael Cardelli
Mike Simms - 40 years old
Amy Alper of Decatur
Kathy Thomas of Fort Wayne
William Haviland of Angola
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