SueDeNimes Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 New Year 2009 delayed by one second to correct atomic clocks New Year will arrive a second late when time across the globe is adjusted to account for the changes in the Earth's rotation. A 'leap second' will be added onto the final minute of 2008 because the planet is gradually slowing down as it spins on its axis. The tweak will help correct the time-lag which shows up on ultra-accurate atomic clocks. It is the 24th time since 1972 that the adjustment has been made by the Paris based International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service at intervals varying from six months to seven years. The last was in 2005. Historically, time was based on the rotation of the Earth relative to celestial bodies. Earth's trip around the sun is about 365.2422 days long, which we round down to 365. Every four years, during a leap year, the inaccuracy is corrected by adding a day in February. Mechanisms such as the Internet-based Network Time Protocol and the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) depend on the accurate time kept by atomic clocks. That extra second will make 2008 – already long with an extra day on Feb 29 – the longest year since 1992. The decision to add an extra second was made by an international consortium of timekeepers, whose American arm announced the extension. World commerce and digital technology depend on accurate to-the-second timekeeping, said Geoff Chester, spokesman for the US Naval Observatory in Washington, responsible for one-third of the world's atomic clocks. Source (telegraph.co.uk) A friend told me this some days ago and I found it funny. Just imagine you didn't hear about this and on New Year's Eve you gather around a radio-controlled clock and start the countdown. It would be 10.. 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... "WTF??" :laugh3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Rose Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 What another second of this horrible year :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darlene_Ihnfsa Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 oh i thought it would had been extended enough to get to count 24 bells instead of 12... short extension, but enough to help people to get to eat the traditional 12 grapes, i hope it'll help me this time. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck kottke Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 On the 11th hour - and this, on the 11th second! Hmm.. what will WWB do?? How will the Short Wave time broadcast deal with this inconvenience? Will the Satellites loose their tethers?:P Stay tuned New Years Eve to find out!!;) I'm guessing the satellites can have their clocks re-synchronized by some program modification.. So, how again is Martin related to Greenwich Mean Time?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobalt Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 His great-great-grandfather (or something along the lines of that) invented Daylight Savings Time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck kottke Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Oh, so that's it!! Thanks Cobalt:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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