Every 365 days, the Earth completes one orbit around the Sun. This is what we commonly call a year.
Earth's Orbit and the Year
The Earth's journey around the Sun isn't perfectly aligned with our calendar. Here's a breakdown:
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Orbital Period: The Earth takes approximately 365 and a quarter days to complete one revolution around the Sun. As stated in the provided reference, "It takes the Earth 365-and-a-quarter days to go all the way around the Sun once."
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Year Length: Since our calendar years have 365 days, we accumulate about a quarter of a day extra each year.
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Leap Years: To account for the extra time, every four years we add one day (February 29th), which is called a leap year. As mentioned in the reference, "One year is 365 days, so every four years we add up the extra four quarters to make one extra day."
What Actually Happens Every 365 Days?
So, every 365 days:
- The Earth has completed a full circle around the Sun.
- We experience a full cycle of seasons as a result of the Earth's tilt in relation to the Sun during the orbit.
Earth's Speed in Orbit
Interestingly, the Earth is not stationary. As referenced, "The Earth orbits the Sun at a speed of around 30 kilometres per second!" This shows the vast scale and speed of motion in our solar system.
