In a leap year, February has 29 days.
Leap is a term that derives from the Latin word bisextus . The concept is used to refer to the leap year : that year that has 366 days ; that is, an additional day compared to the common years. This extra day is added to the month of February , which in these cases has 29 days instead of 28 .
It should be remembered that a year is a period of time that lasts twelve months . According to the Gregorian calendar, each year begins on January 1 and ends on December 31 . After the month of January comes February and then the months of March , April , May , June , July , August , September , October and November follow one another, until finally reaching December .
These twelve months usually add up to 365 days , which is the number of days in a year. Leap years are particular cases: February , which usually has 28 days , becomes 29 . Thus leap years total 366 days .
Origin of a leap year
Why is a day added to the leap year? The explanation lies in the difference between the calendar year and the tropic year (as is known, the time it takes for the planet Earth to complete its orbit around the sun). The length of the tropical year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds . The gap between this duration and the 365 days of the calendar year is overcome by adding, every four years, one day to the calendar year (which is equivalent to the unaccounted time of the tropical year). That is why every four years there is a leap year: 2016 , 2020 and 2024 , for example, are leap years.
2024 is a leap year.
Other information of interest
In addition to everything stated about the term leap year, we can establish other information of interest about it:
- As of February 29, there are 306 days left until the year ends.
- After 2024, the next leap years will be 2028, 2032 and 2036.
- Throughout the world, many people were born on February 29. They have no choice but, when it is not a leap year, to celebrate their birthday on February 28. Thus, for example, at a legal level in Spain it is indicated that these individuals have their birthday at 00:00 on February 28 in those years in which there are no 29.
- Among the most important people who were born on February 29, we can highlight both the Italian Pope Paul III and the American film director William A. Wellman , who directed films such as “Buffalo Bill” ( 1944 ) and “Beyond the Missouri” ( 1951 ). However, we must not forget other figures such as the writer Dee Brown , the politician Pedro Sánchez and the footballer Darren Ambrose .
- Relevant events that occurred on February 29 are the obtaining of a total of eight Oscar Awards for the film “Gone with the Wind” in 1940 and the beginning of the celebration of World Rare Disease Day in 2008 .