Want the weekend to last a little longer? It will! Atomic clocks will add one second tonight to sync with the Earth’s rotation.
International timekeepers have agreed to add a second to the world’s official time at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight — that’s midnight Greenwich Mean Time — to make up for the mismatch between atomic timekeeping and the Earth’s actual rotation. By adding a second every few years, time specialists at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service try to keep noon synchronized with the sun’s highest point each day.
