Editing 2897: Light Leap Years
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by A FLEET OF PAPAL STARSHIPS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
− | The comic | + | The comic portrays [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] updating astronomical distances in some sort of database, noting how long and unpleasant the process is; the caption reveals that the reason is that {{w|leap year}}s "make light-years 0.27% longer" (366/365 = 1.0027397...). This makes the distance to Alpha Centauri "0.27% shorter". 2024 is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, and leap day (February 29) was just over one week away when this comic was released. |
− | The joke | + | The joke of this strip is based on the fact that "one year" isn't a precise unit of measurement: there have been different definitions, evolving over time, of what constitutes a year. The {{w|Gregorian calendar}} (the one most commonly used in modern times) includes a system of leap years in which an additional day is added every fourth year (with some exceptions) to make up for incompatibilities between day and year cycles. This temporarily changes the length of a year from 365 to 366 days. |
− | + | A {{w|light year}} is a unit of distance, commonly used in astronomy, equal to the distance light travels in a vacuum in one year; the year used is the {{w|Julian year (astronomy)|Julian year}}, or 365.25 days. This results in a light year which is standardized at 9,460,730,472,580.8 km, no matter how long the calendar year may be. However, in this comic, a light year has been defined based on the length of the ''current'' year, and consequently becomes longer during leap years, meaning databases with astronomical distances have to be adjusted. Thankfully, most systems of measurement do not change continually, and even those those that do (eg. DST) usually are setup to automatically update when necessary. | |
− | + | The title text jokes that {{w|Pope Gregory XIII}}, the originator of the Gregorian calendar, "briefly shortened the light-year in 1582." What really occurred in 1582 was that the Pope decided to advance the previously Julian calendar by 10 days to make up for an accumulated excess of past leap days and bring the subsequent Gregorian one more into line with astronomical measurements. Not all places went with the change, at that time. Some of the later adopters had to {{w|List of adoption dates of the Gregorian calendar by country|skip yet other days once they did}}, while others continue to use a calendar with an offset factor. In the world of the comic, this change led to "navigational chaos and the loss of several Papal starships". This is of course ludicrous since there were no (known earthly) starships in the 16th century, there has never been a "Papal starship",{{Citation Needed}} and the light-year wasn't developed as a unit of measurement until 1838. Indeed, it wasn't known that the speed of light is finite until {{w|Rømer's determination of the speed of light}} in 1676. Navigational chaos ''has'' been a cause of shipwrecks, notably the {{w|Scilly naval disaster of 1707}} in which 4 ships were lost and over 1400 sailors died. | |
− | + | The joke is that the evolving and somewhat loose and changing definitions of early calendars had significant impacts on the units of measurement we still use today. Such changes did serve to catalyze political and religious conflicts in some instances, and raised temporary issues around matters such as taxes, rents, etc., but as technology has advanced and become increasingly reliant on precise and consistent measurements, they could be significantly more disastrous. | |
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The values given for Proxima Centauri's distance from the Sun, 4.2377 light-leap-years and 4.2493 light-nonleap-years, are consistent with a distance of 4.2464 actual light-years as described by the {{w|International Astronomical Union}}, which is only minutely different from 4.2465 light-years, the value given by {{w|Gaia catalogues|Gaia Data Release 3}} in 2020. Though tiny on an interstellar scale, the difference between 4.2377 and 4.2493 light-years, 0.0116 light years, equals 109.7 billion km (68.2 billion miles), about 730 times the average distance between the Earth and the sun (150 million km or 93 million miles). | The values given for Proxima Centauri's distance from the Sun, 4.2377 light-leap-years and 4.2493 light-nonleap-years, are consistent with a distance of 4.2464 actual light-years as described by the {{w|International Astronomical Union}}, which is only minutely different from 4.2465 light-years, the value given by {{w|Gaia catalogues|Gaia Data Release 3}} in 2020. Though tiny on an interstellar scale, the difference between 4.2377 and 4.2493 light-years, 0.0116 light years, equals 109.7 billion km (68.2 billion miles), about 730 times the average distance between the Earth and the sun (150 million km or 93 million miles). | ||
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop on it and leaning to the back of his office chair, while having his other hand on the laptop. He is looking at Ponytail | + | :[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop on it and leaning to the back of his office chair, while having his other hand on the laptop. He is looking at Ponytail standing behind him. The text from the laptop screen is shown above it, indicated with a zigzag line.] |
:Cueball: It took until February, but I finally got all the distances updated! | :Cueball: It took until February, but I finally got all the distances updated! | ||
:Ponytail: I really wish we didn't have to do this. | :Ponytail: I really wish we didn't have to do this. |