INTRODUCTION Leap Year is the year in which the month of February has 29 days.

Leap year occurs once in four years. EFFECT OF THE TILTED AXIS ON DAY AND NIGHT The earth has two types of motions namely rotation and revolution Earths Axis is an imaginary line which runs right across and passes through the centre of the Earth. The Earth spins round its axis which always remains inclined at an angle of to the plane of Earths orbit. Rotation is the spinning of the earth on its axis. The Earth rotates from west to east and takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds to complete one rotation. The velocity of earths rotation varies between nearly 1690 km per hour at equator, 845 km per hour at 60 N and S and zero at the poles. At the Equator there is a 12-hour day and a 12-hour night. North of S there is continuous night. Days become longer with increasing latitude north, shorter with increasing latitude south. The second motion of the earth around the sun in its orbit is called revolution. It takes Rotation of the Earth on its tilted axis causes days and nights to be different lengths in different parts of line Earth. Since the Earths axis is tilted in the same direction, the orientation of the Earths axis to the Suns rays is constantly changing as the Earth moves around the Sun. This results in a continuous change in the length of days and nights throughout the year. N, there is continuous daylight, south of days (one year) to revolve around the sun. Perihelion The earth reaches its perihelion about 3rd January at a distance of about 147 million kilometre near one extremity of the major axis of the earths elliptical orbit, the axis being called Apsides line. Aphelion The earth reaches its aphelion on 4th July when the earth is at a distance of 152 million kilometre near the other extremity of the major axis. Solstice Solstice is one of the two dates in the year on which the sun reaches greatest altitude north or south of the equator and is directly overhead along one of the lines of the tropics.

Summer Solstice On this date the northern hemisphere is tipped towards the sun having the longest day, while the southern hemisphere is tipped away form the sun having the shortest day. Winter Solstice The position of the earth or any other planet in its orbit when it is at its nearest point to the sun. The position of the earth or any other planet in its orbit when it is at it greatest distance from the sun. On June 21, the earth is so located in its orbit that the sun is overhead on the Tropic of Cancer ( On December 22, the earth is in an equivalent position on the opposite points in its orbit, so the southern hemisphere is tipped towards the sun and the northern hemisphere away from it. ).

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), resulting in the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. Equinoxes The sun is overhead on the Tropic of Capricorn ( Two days in a year when day and night are equal throughout the world are equinoxes. Falling midway between the dates of solstices, on these dates, the earths axis at 90 to the line joining the centres of the earth and the sun and neither the northern nor the southern hemisphere is inclined towards the sun. The vernal equinox occurs on March 21 and it is also called the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. The autumnal equinox occurs on September 23.