Latest news with #Y2K
United News of India
3 hours ago
- Science
- United News of India
Faster spinning Earth prompts timekeepers to consider unprecedented move
California, July 23 (UNI) As the Earth is spinning faster this summer, the days have become marginally shorter, attracting the attention of scientists and timekeepers. July 10 was the shortest day of the year so far, lasting 1.36 milliseconds less than 24 hours, according to data from the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the US Naval Observatory, compiled by More exceptionally, short days are coming on July 22 and August five, currently predicted to be 1.34 and 1.25 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours, respectively, reported CNN. The length of a day is the time it takes for the planet to complete one full rotation on its axis —24 hours or 86,400 seconds on average. But in reality, each rotation is slightly irregular due to a variety of factors, such as the gravitational pull of the moon, seasonal changes in the atmosphere and the influence of Earth's liquid core. As a result, a full rotation usually takes slightly less or slightly more than 86,400 seconds — a discrepancy of just milliseconds that doesn't have any obvious effect on everyday life. However, these discrepancies can, in the long run, affect computers, satellites and telecommunications, which is why even the smallest time deviations are tracked using atomic clocks, which were introduced in 1955. Some experts believe this could lead to a scenario similar to the Y2K problem, which threatened to bring modern civilization to a halt. Atomic clocks count the oscillations of atoms held in a vacuum chamber within the clock itself to calculate 24 hours to the utmost degree of precision. We call the resulting time UTC, or Coordinated Universal Time, which is based on around 450 atomic clocks and is the global standard for timekeeping, as well as the time to which all our phones and computers are set. Astronomers also keep track of Earth's rotation — using satellites that check the position of the planet relative to fixed stars, for example — and can detect minute differences between the atomic clocks' time and the amount of time it actually takes Earth to complete a full rotation. Last year, on July five, 2024, Earth experienced the shortest day ever recorded since the advent of the atomic clock 65 years ago, at 1.66 milliseconds less than 24 hours. 'We've been on a trend toward slightly faster days since 1972,' said Duncan Agnew, a professor emeritus of geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a research geophysicist at the University of California, San Diego. Since 1972, a total of 27 leap seconds have been added to the UTC, but the rate of addition has increasingly slowed, due to Earth speeding up; nine leap seconds were added throughout the 1970s while no new leap seconds have been added since 2016. In 1972, after decades of rotating relatively slowly, Earth's spin had accumulated such a delay relative to atomic time that the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service mandated the addition of a 'leap second' to the UTC. This is similar to the leap year, which adds an extra day to February every four years to account for the discrepancy between the Gregorian calendar and the time it takes for Earth to complete one orbit around the sun. The shortest-term changes in Earth's rotation, Agnew said, come from the moon and the tides, which make it spin slower when the satellite is over the equator and faster when it's at higher or lower altitudes. This effect compounds with the fact that during the summer Earth naturally spins faster — the result of the atmosphere itself slowing down due to seasonal changes, such as the jet stream moving north or south; the laws of physics dictate that the overall angular momentum of Earth and its atmosphere must remain constant, so the rotation speed lost by the atmosphere is picked up by the planet itself. Similarly, for the past 50 years, Earth's liquid core has also been slowing down, with the solid Earth around it speeding up. By looking at the combination of these effects, scientists can predict if an upcoming day could be particularly short. 'These fluctuations have short-period correlations, which means that if Earth is speeding up on one day, it tends to be speeding up the next day, too,' said Judah Levine, a physicist and a fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the time and frequency division. While one short day doesn't make any difference, Levine said, the recent trend of shorter days is increasing the possibility of a negative leap second. The prospect of a negative leap second raises concerns because there are still ongoing problems with positive leap seconds after 50 years, he explained. UNI XC SS
Cosmopolitan
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Lindsay Lohan Had a Surprise ‘Parent Trap' Reunion at ‘Freakier Friday' Premiere
Lindsay Lohan may be reprising one of her many iconic roles alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in her latest movie, Freakier Friday, but the Y2K screen queen just had another surprise reunion on the red carpet. During the movie's premiere on July 22, LiLo ran into her co-stars from The Parent Trap, Lisa Ann Walter and Elaine Hendrix. Let's have a moment of silence for this legendary lineup in our good year, 2025: Aaaand again in video format: Of course, Lisa and Elaine, who have remained close friends since The Parent Trap dropped in 1998, pulled up to the Freakier Friday premiere to support Lindsay. Lisa, who is now known for her role as Melissa Schemmenti on Abbott Elementary, praised the actors when she reposted a sweet image of the trio on her Instagram Stories, writing, 'So proud of these gorgeous ladies.' As for Elaine, she playfully reposted a fan's reaction to their reunion with the caption, 'This is important to millennials everywhere,' and reminded us to reapply our retinol treatments when she whipped out these pics with IMDb: In case you need a refresher, Lindsay played the dual breakout role of twins Hallie and Annie in the remake of the 1961 movie when she was 12. Lisa played The Parent Trap's fan-favorite housekeeper Chessy. Elaine took on the role of Meredith Blake, a young socialite vying for Annie and Hallie's dad and his riches. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Elaine shared that Freakier Friday's director, Nisha Ganatra, hit her up to be in the movie, which happened to be the first time she saw Lindsay since the '90s. 'I got to physically see her, and we spent a lot of time together on set, hanging out, reminiscing, and catching up. Now, we're better about staying in touch with one another,' she shared, explaining that they didn't stay in touch after starring in The Parent Trap due to their age gap at the time. Elaine continued, 'She lives on the other side of the world and has a family and is busy. We both have full lives, but particularly through social media and texting, we're staying in touch, which is quite lovely. I'm so happy for her and where she is in her life. It's nice, in these new chapters of our lives, to be in contact.' Freakier Friday hits theaters August 8, nearly 22 years after the first movie came out in 2003. Get tickets to 'Freakier Friday'
Time of India
a day ago
- Science
- Time of India
Earth is spinning faster and scientists fear a Y2K-like Doomsday
Earth is spinning faster than usual this summer, raising concerns among scientists about potential disruptions to global timekeeping systems — with fears reminiscent of the Y2K scare . According to a CNN report citing data from the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the US Naval Observatory, July 10 was the shortest day of the year so far, clocking in 1.36 milliseconds under the standard 24 hours. More short days are expected on July 22 and August 5. The Earth's rotation isn't perfectly consistent. Factors like lunar gravitational pull, seasonal atmospheric shifts, and the motion of the planet's liquid core cause slight variations in the length of a day. While the changes are typically imperceptible in daily life, even millisecond discrepancies can affect technologies that rely on hyper-accurate timing — such as telecommunications, satellite systems, and financial networks. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Analytics healthcare Technology Finance Project Management Data Science Management Public Policy others Design Thinking Data Science Healthcare Leadership Artificial Intelligence Others Digital Marketing Product Management Cybersecurity PGDM Degree CXO MBA MCA Operations Management Skills you'll gain: Data Analysis & Visualization Predictive Analytics & Machine Learning Business Intelligence & Data-Driven Decision Making Analytics Strategy & Implementation Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Applied Business Analytics Starts on Jun 13, 2024 Get Details To maintain precise time, atomic clocks — which have been used since 1955 — track time to an extraordinary level of accuracy. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), used worldwide, is based on atomic clocks. If Earth's rotation falls out of sync with UTC, leap seconds are added to bring them back into alignment — a process that's occurred 27 times since 1972. However, as Earth's spin has been accelerating, no leap second has been added since 2016. Scientists are now warning that a negative leap second — subtracting a second instead of adding one — may be required as early as 2035. 'There's never been a negative leap second,' physicist Judah Levine told CNN, but the chances of it happening are now around 40%. Such a move could wreak havoc, especially since many systems still struggle with positive leap seconds even after five decades. A negative leap second, never before implemented, could cause failures across systems that depend on stable, continuous time — evoking comparisons to the Y2K bug. Interestingly, climate change may be buying time. The CNN article, citing a study published last year by Agnew in the journal Nature, claimed that melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica is redistributing mass across the planet, subtly slowing Earth's spin and counteracting the speed-up. Live Events Benedikt Soja, an assistant professor at The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, told CNN that if warming continues, "the effect of climate change could surpass the effect of the moon, which has been really driving Earth's rotation for the past few billions of years.' 'I think the (faster spinning) is still within reasonable boundaries, so it could be natural in a few years, we could see again a different situation, and long term, we could see the planet slowing down again. That would be my intuition, but you never know,' Soja added.
Indian Express
a day ago
- Science
- Indian Express
5th July was the shortest day this year. Why is the Earth spinning faster this month?
The Earth spun faster this month, recording the shortest day this year on July 10. The world is set to witness similar events on Tuesday (July 22) and next month (August 5). According to data from the Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the US Naval Observatory, reported by CNN, the Earth recorded its shortest day on July 10, by completing a full rotation faster by a fraction of a second (1.36 milliseconds). Until 2020, the shortest day ever recorded was -1.05 ms, which means the Earth completed its rotation in 1.05 milliseconds less than 24 hours. The Earth has been consistently crossing this number since then, recording its shortest day ever on July 5 (-1.66 ms). The Earth takes 24 hours to rotate on its axis, a period known as 'Length of Day' or LOD. The LOD may vary by a time frame as unnoticeable as a millisecond (0.001 seconds or 1 ms), and these variations are recorded using devices known as atomic clocks. The variation in LOD depends on several factors, including the position of the Moon with respect to the Earth's equator, the oceans, and the atmosphere. The Moon's gravitational pull influences the Earth's rotation speed — it is slower when the satellite is closer to the equator and faster when it's at latitudes farther away from it. The atmosphere slows down due to seasonal changes, and the Earth compensates for it by rotating faster, as the combined angular momentum of Earth and its atmosphere must remain constant. As per the same principle, the slowdown of Earth's liquid core has caused the solid Earth around it to speed up. One reason the trend of faster days has drawn attention is the concept of the 'leap second.' For several decades, Earth was known to be slowing down, making days marginally longer. This led to adjustments, known as the positive leap seconds, being made to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to slow down the atomic clock and keep it in sync with the phenomenon. This has happened 27 times since 1972. With the Earth currently recording faster rotations than it used to, the atomic time may need adjustments in the opposite direction by removing a second, called a negative leap second. This has never happened before. Since so many global systems — including telecommunications, financial transactions, and GPS satellites — depend on accurate timekeeping, it could lead to disruptions akin to the Y2K problem. Hence, scientists are closely monitoring the shortening of days.
Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Science
- Saudi Gazette
Earth is spinning faster, leading timekeepers to consider an unprecedented move
WASHIGTON — Earth is spinning faster this summer, making the days marginally shorter and attracting the attention of scientists and timekeepers. July 10 was the shortest day of the year so far, lasting 1.36 milliseconds less than 24 hours, according to data from the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the US Naval Observatory, compiled by More exceptionally short days are coming on July 22 and August 5, currently predicted to be 1.34 and 1.25 milliseconds shorter than 24 hours, respectively. The length of a day is the time it takes for the planet to complete one full rotation on its axis —24 hours or 86,400 seconds on average. But in reality, each rotation is slightly irregular due to a variety of factors, such as the gravitational pull of the moon, seasonal changes in the atmosphere and the influence of Earth's liquid core. As a result, a full rotation usually takes slightly less or slightly more than 86,400 seconds — a discrepancy of just milliseconds that doesn't have any obvious effect on everyday life. However these discrepancies can, in the long run, affect computers, satellites and telecommunications, which is why even the smallest time deviations are tracked using atomic clocks, which were introduced in 1955. Some experts believe this could lead to a scenario similar to the Y2K problem, which threatened to bring modern civilization to a halt. Atomic clocks count the oscillations of atoms held in a vacuum chamber within the clock itself to calculate 24 hours to the utmost degree of precision. We call the resulting time UTC, or Coordinated Universal Time, which is based on around 450 atomic clocks and is the global standard for timekeeping, as well as the time to which all our phones and computers are also keep track of Earth's rotation — using satellites that check the position of the planet relative to fixed stars, for example — and can detect minute differences between the atomic clocks' time and the amount of time it actually takes Earth to complete a full rotation. Last year, on July 5, 2024, Earth experienced the shortest day ever recorded since the advent of the atomic clock 65 years ago, at 1.66 milliseconds less than 24 hours.'We've been on a trend toward slightly faster days since 1972,' said Duncan Agnew, a professor emeritus of geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a research geophysicist at the University of California, San Diego. 'But there are fluctuations. It's like watching the stock market, really. There are long-term trends, and then there are peaks and falls.'In 1972, after decades of rotating relatively slowly, Earth's spin had accumulated such a delay relative to atomic time that the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service mandated the addition of a 'leap second' to the UTC. This is similar to the leap year, which adds an extra day to February every four years to account for the discrepancy between the Gregorian calendar and the time it takes Earth to complete one orbit around the 1972, a total of 27 leap seconds have been added to the UTC, but the rate of addition has increasingly slowed, due to Earth speeding up; nine leap seconds were added throughout the 1970s while no new leap seconds have been added since 2022, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted to retire the leap second by 2035, meaning we may never see another one added to the clocks. But if Earth keeps spinning faster for several more years, according to Agnew, eventually one second might need to be removed from the UTC. 'There's never been a negative leap second,' he said, 'but the probability of having one between now and 2035 is about 40%.'The shortest-term changes in Earth's rotation, Agnew said, come from the moon and the tides, which make it spin slower when the satellite is over the equator and faster when it's at higher or lower altitudes. This effect compounds with the fact that during the summer Earth naturally spins faster — the result of the atmosphere itself slowing down due to seasonal changes, such as the jet stream moving north or south; the laws of physics dictate that the overall angular momentum of Earth and its atmosphere must remain constant, so the rotation speed lost by the atmosphere is picked up by the planet itself. Similarly, for the past 50 years Earth's liquid core has also been slowing down, with the solid Earth around it speeding looking at the combination of these effects, scientists can predict if an upcoming day could be particularly short. 'These fluctuations have short-period correlations, which means that if Earth is speeding up on one day, it tends to be speeding up the next day, too,' said Judah Levine, a physicist and a fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the time and frequency division. 'But that correlation disappears as you go to longer and longer intervals. And when you get to a year, the prediction becomes quite uncertain. In fact, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service doesn't predict further in advance than a year.'While one short day doesn't make any difference, Levine said, the recent trend of shorter days is increasing the possibility of a negative leap second. 'When the leap second system was defined in 1972, nobody ever really thought that the negative second would ever happen,' he noted. 'It was just something that was put into the standard because you had to do it for completeness. Everybody assumed that only positive leap seconds would ever be needed, but now the shortening of the days makes (negative leap seconds) in danger of happening, so to speak.'The prospect of a negative leap second raises concerns because there are still ongoing problems with positive leap seconds after 50 years, explained Levine. 'There are still places that do it wrong or do it at the wrong time, or do it (with) the wrong number, and so on. And that's with a positive leap second, which has been done over and over. There's a much greater concern about the negative leap second, because it's never been tested, never been tried.'Because so many fundamental technologies systems rely on clocks and time to function, such as telecommunications, financial transactions, electric grids and GPS satellites just to name a few, the advent of the negative leap second is, according to Levine, somewhat akin to the Y2K problem — the moment at the turn of the last century when the world thought a kind of doomsday would ensue because computers might have been unable to negotiate the new date format, going from '99' to '00.'Climate change is also a contributing factor to the issue of the leap second, but in a surprising way. While global warming has had considerable negative impacts on Earth, when it comes to our timekeeping, it has served to counteract the forces that are speeding up Earth's spin. A study published last year by Agnew in the journal Nature details how ice melting in Antarctica and Greenland is spreading over the oceans, slowing down Earth's rotation — much like a skater spinning with their arms over their head, but spinning slower if the arms are tucked along the body.'If that ice had not melted, if we had not had global warming, then we would already be having a leap negative leap second, or we would be very close to having it,' Agnew said. Meltwater from Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets has is responsible for a third of the global sea level rise since 1993, according to mass shift of this melting ice is not only causing changes in Earth's rotation speed, but also in its rotation axis, according to research led by Benedikt Soja, an assistant professor at the department of civil, environmental and geomatic engineering of The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. If warming continues, its effect might become dominant. 'By the end of this century, in a pessimistic scenario (in which humans continue to emit more greenhouse gases) the effect of climate change could surpass the effect of the moon, which has been really driving Earth's rotation for the past few billions of years,' Soja the moment, potentially having more time to prepare for action is helpful, given the uncertainty of long-term predictions on Earth's spinning behavior. 'I think the (faster spinning) is still within reasonable boundaries, so it could be natural variability,' Soja said. 'Maybe in a few years, we could see again a different situation, and long term, we could see the planet slowing down again. That would be my intuition, but you never know.' — CNN
