Google is celebrating 'Leap Day' today on Thursday, 29 February 2024 with an amazing Doodle. The Google Doodle for Leap Year 2024 is depicting a frog in a pond that takes a quick leap from number 29, and there are Numbers 1 and 28 on the right and left sides of the frog.
Ribbiting news, it's Leap Day! Leap Day, 29 February, only occurs about every four years, to keep our calendars in alignment with the Earth and sun. Enjoy this bonus day of February - Happy Leap Day, stated Google alongside the Leap Day Doodle Image.
Leap Year 2024: Why is There Leap Day in February?
Every four years, Leap Day is added as an extra day to the Gregorian calendar. This custom dates back to 46 BCE, when the Julian calendar was in use. The reason for adding the extra day was that the Julian calendar did not account for the Earth's orbit around the Sun, which takes slightly longer than 365 days. The beginning of each season is moved forward by approximately one-fourth of a day as a result of this additional day. Due to the possibility of the seasons beginning 44 minutes earlier each year, this presented a challenge for the Julian calendar.
The extra one day known as 'Leap Day' in the month of February helps to maintain alignment between the Earth's rotation around the Sun and the present Gregorian calendar. Julius Caesar introduced the concept of a leap year to compensate for the fact that the Earth's orbit around the sun takes approximately 365.25 days.
In addition to the quirky Leap Day 2024 Doodle, Google stated some facts about the inception of Google Doodles. We’ve created more than 5,000 Doodles over the decades. The very first Doodle was published in 1998 as a quick way for Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to let people know they would be out of office for Burning Man, says Google.
Google celebrated the previous 'Leap Day' in 2020 with an amazing doodle and stated, 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.
We HOP you have a good one - Happy Leap Day!
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