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Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 February 29 Julius Caesar and Leap Days Credit: Rune Rysstad Explanation: Today, February 29th, is a leap day - a relatively rare occurrence. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar, pictured above in a self-decreed minted coin, created a calendar system that added one leap day every four years. Acting on advice by Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, Caesar did this to make up for the fact that the Earth's year...

...in the early 1990s two of Mike’s interests, numismatics and astronomy, came together. As Mike explored the astrological iconography on Roman coins he developed a theory for the "Magi's star.” He interpreted this event as a description of a remarkable pair of highly visible eclipses of Jupiter by the Moon. These occurred in the constellation Aries that was associated with King Herod and was likely interpreted as a sign of a major event. He presented his findings in a 1995 paper in The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society and later in his 1999 Rutgers University Press book "The...

Because of the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s, Christmas ended up being celebrated 11 days earlier than before. When the change reached America in the 1750s, some people continued to observe December 25 as sacred and also marked January 6 as “Old Christmas.” This tradition held on strongly in Appalachia and remained part of Kentucky's holiday heritage as a parallel celebration alongside the newer Christmas date. The Forgotten Holiday Called 'Old Christmas' | 5:57 KET - Kentucky Educational Television | 44K subscribers | 47,374 views | November 26, 2025

The Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has switched from the lunar-based Islamic calendar, which starts with the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, to the "Western" Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII and based on Jesus Christ's birth.The decision, taken during a recent cabinet session chaired by King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, is an austerity measure to deal with its budget deficit, according to reports, which say the drop in crude oil prices beginning 2014 has hit the world's top oil exporter hard.The Muslim calendar, also known as Hijri, loses some 11 days a year so that Islamic...

The false prophet who predicted that the Rapture would take place late last month has set the date for the REAL Rapture, insisting it will take place some time between October 7-8 of this year “”The 7th and 8th of October is the real Feast of the Trumpets. I’m a billion percent sure.” Three months ago, Joshua Mhlakela—a “believer” from South Africa who claimed to have once been a pastor—came out of nowhere and began claiming that Jesus came to him in a dream in 2018 and told him: “On the 23rd and the 24th of September, 2025, I will...

Each month in the modern Gregorian calendar consists of at least 28 days. That number would be a nicely rounded 30 were it not for February. While every month besides the second in the calendar contains at least 30 days, February falls short with 28 (and 29 on a leap year). So why is the most widely used calendar in the world so inconsistent in the lengths of its months? And why is February stuck with the fewest number of days? Blame it on Roman superstition. The Gregorian calendar’s oldest ancestor, the first Roman calendar, had a glaring difference in...

Some 300 million people around the world are starting their annual celebration of renewal and harmony with nature in what is to them the biggest cultural holiday of the year, typically involving 13 days of rituals. Nowruz (alternatively spelled Nauruz, Nauryz, Navruz, Nevruz, Nooruz, Norooz, Norouz, or Novruz), also known as Persian New Year (Nowruz means “new day” in Persian), is celebrated across ethnic groups with a common Silk Roads heritage, including Afghanistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey, as well as their diaspora in other countries. Watch more from TIME Click to Learn More AD pause volume_off...

Google commemorates Nowruz, the Persian New Year, with a vibrant doodle symbolizing equal daylight and darkness on the vernal equinox. The doodle features haft-sīn, a table Google has created a colourful and vibrant doodle to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Nowruz means 'new day' in Persian and it aligns with the vernal equinox, marking the period when daylight and darkness are nearly equal in duration.The Google doodle consist of multiple colourful elements which represent the Persian culture. The doodle comprises of traditional calligraphy, floral designs and the most important tradition haft-sīn.For those unaware, Haft-sin is a distinctive table arrangement...

A senior Russian Orthodox Church official is calling for Russia to return back to its traditional Julian calendar that was used until February 1918. In a televised interview with church-affliliated Spas TV on January 16, Aleksandr Shchipkov said the shift to the Gregorian calendar by the Bolsheviks a century ago was a bad idea. "[Their] goal was to break tradition, psychologically break the Russian people, to paralyze their will," said Shchipkov, first deputy chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church's public relations department. "The only structure that preserved the old style is the church, which is truly the preserver of tradition,"...

This Monday is the federal holiday Washington's Birthday, better known as Presidents Day, celebrated on the third Monday of February. If you want to know the actual birth date of George Washington, you will find two dates: Feb. 22, 1732, and Feb. 11, 1731. Both dates are correct. What accounts for the discrepancy? When Washington was born, Britain and its colonies were using the Julian calendar. Developed in first century B.C. under Julius Caesar, it had three too many leap days per 400-year period. The Catholic Church corrected the error in the 16th century by introducing a modified calendar (the...