February 29 takes approximately 6 hours longer than 365 whole days. A leap day compensates for this lag, realigning the calendar with the Earth's position in the Solar System; otherwise, seasons would occur later than intended in the calendar year. The Julian calendar used in Christendom until the 16th century added a leap day every four years; but this rule adds too many days (roughly 3 every 400 years), making the equinoxes and solstices shift gradually to earlier dates. By the 16th century the vernal equinox had drifted to March 11, and the Gregorian calendar was introduced both to shift it back
Century leap year Century leap year In the Gregorian calendar, a year ending in "00" that is divisible by 400 is a century leap year, with the intercalation of February 29 yielding 366 days instead of 365. Century years (divisible by 100) that are "not" divisible by 400 are not leap years but common years of 365 days. For example, the years 1600, 2000, and 2400 are century leap years since those numbers are divisible by 400, while 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, and 2300 are common years despite being divisible by 4. Leap years divisible by 400 always start on a Saturday;