Since the 1960s, scientists have been using atomic clocks to keep precise time. On June 29, however, scientists monitoring these clocks noticed an anomaly: it was the shortest day on Earth in recorded history.
According to a time-and-date report, on June 29 Earth completed one rotation in 1.59 milliseconds less than 24 hours, highlighting a recent trend that shows the planet’s rotation is speeding up. In 2020, Earth achieved its 28 shortest days since daily measurements began.
Images from the James Webb Space Telescope
It’s not clear why this happens, although scientists have a few guesses. Many speculate that this could be due to things like tides, climate, or other Earth processes.
As pointed out by timeanddate, at next week’s Asia-Oceanic Geoscience Union meeting, Leonid Zotov, Christian Bizuar and Nikolai Sidorenkov are scheduled to explain another potential reason for this change: a variation in the Chandler oscillation, which is the small movement of the Earth’s poles across The globe.
“The normal amplitude of the Chandler Oscillation is about three to four meters at the Earth’s surface,” Dr. Zotov said, “but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared.”
If this trend continues, it could lead to what is known as a “negative leap second”, where clocks will jump one second to allow civil time to keep up with solar time. As timeanddate points out, this could potentially have implications for IT systems that rely on accurate time measurements.
In other space and science news, NASA recently unveiled the first images from the James Webb Telescope, which captured the “deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever.” For those who want to get up close to the magnificent galaxies imaged by this telescope, we are now in an age where space tourism is possible, although it comes at a steep price.
Blogroll Image Credit: Bernt Ove Moss / Getty Images
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things independent and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they have contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
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