HOUSTON – 2024 just started, and you may have heard that it is a leap year.
Here’s what that means.
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During a leap year, February has 29 days instead of 28.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, we have a leap year because it takes the Earth about 365 days and 6 hours to orbit the sun.
We need to account for the extra hours, so that’s why February has an extra day about every four years.
Those six hours are important. If we kept ignoring and subtracting them then those hours add up into days and then months. This would affect our calendar year. For example, July could end up happening during the winter season.
Do other planets have leap years?
They do! Mars typically has more leap years than regular years. It takes Mars 668.6 sols to travel around the sun. Sols are Martian days.