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Leap second makes 2016 a long year

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If you thought that 2016 felt like a long year, you were right, by one second.

This is because one extra second was added to the minute from 11:59pm to 12:00am on New Year’s Eve, making the last minute of 2016 last for 61 seconds.

This is called a leap second, and we’ve done this since 1972, so that the time on our watches matches how the Earth is rotating.

The 2016 leap second is our 28th leap second since we started having them.

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