The Earth’s friction is no laughing matter, according to NASA officials at a press conference March 31 at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The event was broadcast throughout 31 countries, the latest number of viewers reaching just under 40 million viewers—about the same as the number of US citizens who watched President Obama’s inauguration.
This year was a leap year, created to keep the Gregorian calendar accurate. Next year, however, NASA detailed will consist of 367 days. “The Earth’s rotation is slowing,” Dr. Ellena Stophan, Chief Scientist of NASA said. “Tidal forces create friction with stray space particles in Earth’s orbit, gradually lagging our spin,” Stophan said.
“It is foreseeable, in the not-so-distant future, that our 24 hour day will become 25, Stophan said. Stophan elaborated that the combination of the Moon’s continual drifting from its orbit and the Milankovitch Cycle’s eccentricity in precession has resulted in a necessary departure from our calendar.
“Time-keeping is centric to the function of our societies in an increasingly connected, global community. To maintain the trust that we keep in time, we will have to make a necessary departure. To be in the right place, you have to be at the right time. Therefore, April first, 2017, will be known as International Time Saving Day,” Stofan said.
Like daylight saving time, where the clocks are set back or forth an hour to make use of sunlight in society, the additional day, which would usually be April 1, will make up for the .0006 eventual eccentricity of axial tilt, resulting in an overabundance of leap seconds as time continues over the entire lifespan of the solar system.
The Milankovitch Cycle, relating to the Earth’s obliquity, eccentricity and precession explains that these forces are not constant. Over the years, these changes have happened and could continue to happen, according to NASA.
“We understand the difficulty businesses and the people of the world will have to burden with the addition of International Time Saving Day, but by doing so—even just this once—the Gregorian calendar can remain our trusted method of time-keeping for the remainder of all civilization,” Stophan said to crowds.
Most payroll companies will pay on International Time Saving Day, but if payments are due by contract, the payments will not be late until the end of the following day, April 1.
International Time Saving Day will be the first one-time government holiday honored in the United States. The calendar will then continue as usual. April Holidays, like National Ferret Day on April 2, National Chocolate Mousse Day on April 3, National Hug a Newsperson Day (The Clarion is located in Building 8, Room 027) and of course the observation of Autism Awareness Month, Arab-American Month, Earth Month and many more will continue as usual.
What date will be put on the birth certificates of children born on International Time Saving Day has yet to be decided.
Barton Kleen
Managing Editor