szökévvel

A szökévvel, more commonly known as a leap year in English, is a calendar year that contains an extra day, making it 366 days long instead of the usual 365. This extra day is added to the end of February, which then has 29 days instead of 28. The purpose of a leap year is to keep our calendar in sync with the Earth's revolutions around the Sun. The Earth's orbital period is approximately 365.2422 days. If we only had 365-day years, the calendar would gradually drift out of alignment with the seasons.

The Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system today, follows specific rules for determining leap years. A year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, except for years that are divisible by 100 but not by 400. For example, 2000 was a leap year because it is divisible by 400. However, 1900 was not a leap year because it is divisible by 100 but not by 400. This refinement helps to more accurately account for the fraction of a day in the Earth's orbit. The concept of a leap year has been used in various calendar systems throughout history, including the Julian calendar, which preceded the Gregorian calendar. The implementation of leap years ensures that significant astronomical events, like the solstices and equinoxes, occur around the same calendar dates each year.