Hold on a sec...

I hope you are all enjoying new year's eve. And for everyone already past the midnight mark, happy new year!

If you felt that 2008 was a long year, you were right. Not only was it a leap year, but the year was a bit longer. One second longer, to be exact.

Scientists added a second at 12 am UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, which is the technical version of Greenwhich Mean Time). That meant that all countries in time zones behind GMT had a longer 2008, and countries ahead have a longer 2009. So if you live to the east of the Atlantic--don't complain. You got more time to celebrate the new year.

The need to add a 'leap second' is the result of a slowing of the rotation of the Earth. The rotation of the Earth is influenced by many factors, including solar winds, lunar and solar gravity, and space dust. Though the difference is very small per day, it adds up. If left unaltered, the atomic and solar (sundial) times would differ by "up to more than an hour in a few centuries." (1)

This is the twenty-fourth time that a leap second has been added, and it's the fourth time that it has happened in a leap year. The last time a leap second was added was on December 31, 2005. The next time it willl happen is in 2012 or 2013 (2).

So don't be afraid to hang on a sec. You've got at least one to spare.

(References: a [1], b [2], c, d)