Why the international rotation service have decided to extend 2016? – Arguments and facts

on 31 December 2016 after 23:59:59 will not come 1 January 2017 (with time 00:00:00) and 23:59:60.

This decision was made by the international service of rotation. Adding one second will occur in order to coordinated universal time UTC is different from astronomical time on the planet UT1 by more than 0.9 seconds. Due to the difference between UTC and UT1 gradually accumulates the difference, that can shift the start of the seasons and some important dates calendar.

What is a leap second?

a Leap second is an additional period of time, which compensates slightly slow the Earth’s rotation. The addition of such second regularly since 1972.

How often to synchronize the time?

the Time required to synchronize once a year. Most often such events occur in June and December of leap years. Last time coordinating second was added June 30, 2015. It is noted that in the future, additional seconds can be entered as often as the Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing, and the difference between UTC and UT1 grows.

Why it is necessary to synchronize the astronomical and world time?

According to the standard coordinated universal time, the Earth completes one rotation around its axis in 86400 seconds — that’s as much last night. But in fact our planet rotates more slowly: according to astronomical time, one full turn around the axis occurs 86400,002 seconds. This lag is due to the attraction of the moon and other processes inside the Earth and in the atmosphere. Of course, the difference is 2 milliseconds, very small, but this discrepancy is repeated from day to day, and year is typed in almost the whole of the “extra” second — the same second coordinate.

what crash results in the addition of extra second?

most of the failures occurring in the IT sector. Last year, the leap second caused problems with my Android phones, web television, online services and social networks. In 2012, the second led to a large error Linux, which entailed the collapse of several sites. To avoid collapse, many companies are developing various solutions. For example, Google has a special server through which the first second they “smear” for 20 hours — 10 hours before the New year and 10 hours after. The result is that the watch is a little lie.