this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2025
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[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The 365.2422 days per celestial year is a math error we can fix.

We need to adjust the length of days and seconds but we can get rid of it completely if we wanted to.

It's not like noon means the maximum of the suns arc or sunset and sunrise don't already shift throughout the year.

The only thing that stops it is the momentum of a human measurement error.

If we use 366 we just get slightly shorter days by about 3 minutes. All of these time measurements are more arbitrary than feet and inches. Science back filled the bullshit with physical constants and there is no reason we cannot tie a proper system into alternative physics constants.

[–] Val@anarchist.nexus 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

A year is a rotation of seasons. It has nothing to do with the day-night cycle. That should absolutely be separate.

And the 365.2422 isn't a math error. It's a mathematic ratio, rotation around the sun / rotation around itself. and it should absolutely be upheld.

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

The mathematical error os not basing our time counting on that ratio. The number is only 365.2422 because our second, hours, days are too long/short.

We can just decide we want one rotation to be exactly 366 units and then work backwards from there to determine new units.

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 2 points 3 hours ago

So you'd support a "day" unit of time that has no relation with the times the sun is rising and setting?

if your "day" is exactly a 365th or 366th of a year, you'll have to work with with the fact a specific hour like 12PM would gradually deviate to be any time from sun's zenith to the middle of the night.

[–] moonshadow@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 hours ago

Days are defined by a different natural cycle, that of the earth's rotation around its axis. That happens 365.2422 times every time we go around the sun. You can't just assign the length of a day to something more convenient

[–] Val@anarchist.nexus 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

A day is defined as a single rotation around earths axis. A year is a single rotation around the sun. The 356.2422 is the result of those two definitions. Earth takes 356.2422 rotations around its axis to rotate around the sun. That is a fact. You could define a unit to be 366th of a rotation around the sun, you could even call it a day, but as a result you lose the reason a day is a useful unit: It's the time it takes for earth to spin around its axis, a far more useful definition than 366th of a year.

[–] erusuoyera@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

I propose we make the calender a nice round 360 days, then have a roughly 5-6 day holiday for new New year around the spring equinox.