Details for the Year 8 Year8 Leap Year?? Yes Days in Year366 Previous Leap Year4 Next Leap Year12 Leap Years Near 8 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 What is a Leap Year? A leap year has 366 days instead of the usual 365, with an extra day � February 29 (Leap Day) � added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year. Leap Year Rules (Gregorian Calendar) The year must be divisible by 4. Exception: If the year is also divisible by 100, it is not a leap year� Exception to the exception: If divisible by 400, it is a leap year. Examples: 2000 ? leap (�400), 1900 ? not leap (�100 but not �400), 2024 ? leap (�4), 2100 ? not leap. Why do we need leap years? The Earth takes approximately 365.2422 days to orbit the Sun. Without leap years, after 100 years the calendar would be off by ~24 days, causing seasons to drift significantly from their calendar dates. Leap Day: February 29 People born on February 29 are called leaplings or leap-day babies. They officially celebrate their birthday on February 28 or March 1 in non-leap years. The probability of being born on February 29 is approximately 1 in 1,461. Julian vs Gregorian Calendar The older Julian calendar made every year divisible by 4 a leap year, without the century exception. This caused a drift of ~13 days by the 20th century, which is why the Gregorian reform was introduced in 1582.
