Leap second to end 2016

An extra second will be added this year because of the earth’s slowing rotation.

Countries that use Coordinated Universal Time – several West African nations, Britain, Ireland and Iceland – will add the leap second during the midnight countdown to 2017 – making the year’s final minute 61 seconds long.

For others, the timing will be determined by the time zone they live in, relative to UTC.

“This extra second, or leap second, makes it possible to align astronomical time, which is irregular and determined by Earth’s rotation, with UTC which is extremely stable and has been determined by atomic clocks since 1967,” the Paris Observatory said in a statement.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.