Google celebrates Leap Day with a doodle
Google jumped at the chance to share a new animated doodle on Saturday.
In celebration of Leap Day, which only comes around once every four years, the animation depicts the number 29 in the center of the Google logo. The digit between the numbers 28 and 1 symbolizes the extra day in February.
“Today’s Doodle is jumping for joy on Leap Day, the 29th day of February that only occurs about every four years, to keep our calendars in alignment with the Earth and sun,” Google said.
“We HOP you have a good one — Happy Leap Day!”
Why there’s an extra day
Our calendar has 365 days in a year, because that’s about how long it takes the Earth to orbit the sun. Technically, though, it takes the Earth 365 ¼ days to circle the sun (that’s a solar year), which means our calendar is off by a quarter of a day a year.
To fix the discrepancy, Pope Gregory XIII approved the Gregorian calendar and coined the term “leap year.” February 29 was established as the official date to add to a leap year.
