{"id":20837,"date":"2026-10-09T10:17:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T10:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/?p=20837"},"modified":"2026-10-09T10:17:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T10:17:35","slug":"leap-seconds-have-helped-keep-clocks-synchronized-with-earths-rotation-but-their-time-may-be-over-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/?p=20837","title":{"rendered":"Leap seconds have helped keep clocks synchronized with Earth\u2019s rotation, but their time may be over \u2013 here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-rewritten:<\/strong> This is a summary of an article from The Conversation, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story.<\/p>\n

The Conversation • Vahe Peroomian, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences • October 8, 2026<\/strong><\/div>\n\n

Leap seconds have historically kept atomic clocks synchronized with Earth’s rotation, but a major international organization may stop adding them soon. Since 1972, timekeepers added 27 positive leap seconds to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to prevent it from drifting too far from UT1, the time scale based on Earth’s actual rotation. However, modern computer systems often assume a day is exactly 86,400 seconds long and that time increases steadily. Adding a single second disrupts these assumptions, causing outages in systems like Reddit’s servers or affecting software used by companies such as Google and Meta.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In October 2026, the General Conference on Weights and Measures plans to adopt a new strategy. They intend to allow the difference between UTC and UT1 to grow up to 3,600 seconds, or one hour, before taking action. This approach effectively replaces the "leap second" with a "leap hour," where the extra time is spread gradually rather than added abruptly. The resolution aims to begin this continuous time scale on May 20, 2027.<\/p>\n

This decision comes after Earth experienced unusually rapid rotation since about 2015. During the year 2020 alone, Earth completed its full rotation in fewer than 86,400 atomic seconds on 28 days. If this trend continues, scientists might eventually need to introduce a negative leap second to slow down time, a concept with no large-scale precedent for handling in computer systems. While most people will not notice the change because their devices rarely display seconds, astronomers and Earth scientists will monitor the growing gap between atomic time and planetary rotation.<\/p>\n

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Source:<\/strong> The Conversation • Vahe Peroomian, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences • October 8, 2026<\/p>\n

Read the original article at The Conversation →<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AI-rewritten: This is a summary of an article from The Conversation, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story. The Conversation • Vahe Peroomian, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/p>\n

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