New Year's Eve is extended

For three years it was possible to do without it. But now it's become necessary again. This coming New Year's Eve, the radio controlled clocks will, after 0:59:59, instead of jumping to 1 o'clock at the next tick of the second, pause shortly in order to insert a small portion of extra time: a leap second.

The International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) in Paris has prescribed this addition to coordinated universal time (UTC), as our Earth is again too much out of sync. The Earth lags behind atomic clock time, whose ticking seconds do not pay attention to any earthly fluctuation. This leap second will be dispensed to the German clocks by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig.

More information about time
Find all answers to your questions about time at http://www.ptb.de/en/wegweiser/infoszurzeit/index.html
PTB-contact
Dr. Andreas Bauch, Working Group “Dissemination of Time”,
phone: ++49 (531) 592-4420, E-Mail: andreas.bauch@ptb.de

All latest news from the category: Physics and Astronomy

This area deals with the fundamental laws and building blocks of nature and how they interact, the properties and the behavior of matter, and research into space and time and their structures.

innovations-report provides in-depth reports and articles on subjects such as astrophysics, laser technologies, nuclear, quantum, particle and solid-state physics, nanotechnologies, planetary research and findings (Mars, Venus) and developments related to the Hubble Telescope.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Superradiant atoms could push the boundaries of how precisely time can be measured

Superradiant atoms can help us measure time more precisely than ever. In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen present a new method for measuring the time interval,…

Ion thermoelectric conversion devices for near room temperature

The electrode sheet of the thermoelectric device consists of ionic hydrogel, which is sandwiched between the electrodes to form, and the Prussian blue on the electrode undergoes a redox reaction…

Zap Energy achieves 37-million-degree temperatures in a compact device

New publication reports record electron temperatures for a small-scale, sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion device. In the nine decades since humans first produced fusion reactions, only a few fusion technologies have demonstrated…

Partners & Sponsors