When you counted down on New Year’s Eve to mark the beginning of the next year did you start at 10 or 11? Most revelers would have counted down from ten but they would have been premature this year as there was an extra second added to last year – the leap second.

Leap seconds are normally inserted once or twice a year (normally on New Year’s Eve and in June) to ensure the global timescale UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) coincides with the astronomical day.

Leap seconds have been used since UTC was first implemented and they are a direct result of our accuracy in timekeeping. The problem is that modern atomic clocks are far more accurate timekeeping devices than the earth itself. It was noticed when atomic clocks were first developed that the length of a day, once thought to be exactly 24 hours, varied.

The variations are caused by the Earth’s rotation which is affected by the moons gravity and tidal forces of the Earth, all of which minutely slow down the earth’s rotation.

This rotational slowing, while only minuscule, if it is not checked then the UTC day would soon drift into the astronomical night (albeit in several thousands of years).

The decision on whether a Leap Second is needed is the remit of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS), however, Leap Seconds are not popular with everybody and they can cause potential problems when they are introduced.

UTC is used by NTP time servers (Network Time Protocol) as a time reference to synchronise computer networks and other technology and the disruption Leap seconds can cause is seen as not worth the hassle.

However, others, such as astronomers, say that failing to keep UTC in line with the astronomical day would make studying of the heavens nearly impossible.

The last leap second inserted before this one was in 2005 but there have been a total of 23 seconds added to UTC since 1972.