Leap Year 2024: Do you know that a leap year's importance comes from its ability to keep the year in alignment with the Earth's orbit around the sun? Every four years, February 29 is added as an extra day to the calendar, forming a leap year. The whole adjustment makes up for the fact that it takes Earth 365.25 days to complete its orbit around the sun. In the absence of leap years, seasonal misalignments would eventually result from human calendars gradually becoming out of sync with the celestial year.

Not only that, but every leap year makes sure that the equinoxes and solstices fall on roughly regular dates, which preserves the calendar system's accuracy.

Leap Year 2024 (Image Credit: Canva)

This small change has been essential to preserving the temporal coherence of our calendars and making it easier to arrange events, vacations, and other time-related affairs in a manner that is in accordance with the earth's natural cycles.

Also Read: World Introvert Day 2024: 20 Quotes That Perfectly Describe An Introvert Person

Reasons For Celebrating Leap Day

Every four years, Leap Day is added to the calendar in order to bring Earth's orbit into line with the seasons. The year has 365 days, but Earth's orbit takes 365 1/4 days to complete. The seasons would alternate every 750 years, with winters occurring in the middle of summer if leap years were not observed. The equinoxes, summer, and winter solstices would also not coincide with the seasons. A leap year is another year that is designated every four years; however, it can be evenly divisible by 400 or completely divisible by four.

Leap Year 2024 (Image Credit: Canva)

Why 29th Of February Is A Leap Day?

Due to its 355 days, the Roman calendar eventually became out of alignment with the changing of the seasons. The Julian calendar was developed by Julius Caesar. It is a solar calendar that was formed by the Egyptian calendar and had a leap year system.  This custom lasted until 1582, when the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar, adding a leap day to February as a result. The leap year for this year will also fall on February 29.