Position:Home>History> Was the Gregorian Calendar miscalculated?

Well, a quick paper chase through the internet unearthed some information that may have something to do with what you’re talking about!.

First of all, it is widely acknowledged that the Gregorian calendar is slightly out!. We’re only talking about a few seconds a year though!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Gregorian_c!.!.!.

If the calendar were seriously out, then the first thing you’d notice is the seasons getting out of whack, arriving later and later (or earlier and earlier)!. A glance at the history books tells us that, in the four hundred years since we’ve been using the calendar, nothing like that has happened!. So the calendar works OK as far as the seasons are concerned!. Phew!.

But in addition to that, there’s another argument which has to do with the definition of the “year”!. Basically our calendars all assume that one year is the time that it takes for the sun to return to the same position in the sky compared with the stars!.

However, this is actually a bit less than the time it takes for the earth to go round the sun!. That is because each year the position of the earth shifts slightly!. It wobbles in its orbit!. This is known as "the procession of the equinoxes"!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Precession_!.!.!.

If I understood the argument correctly, this difference is apparently equivalent to around 20 minutes or so a year!. Actually it’s even more complicated than that, because there are several different ways to measure the length of a year!.

For example, there is the sidereal year, the tropical year, the vernal equinox year and the anomalistic year!. Don't ask me what the difference is but it's all on the internet!.!.!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Year#Sidere!.!.!.
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Mean_tropic!.!.!.

I think some people have a beef with the Gregorian Calendar because it is measuring the “wrong” type of year!.

http://www!.hermetic!.ch/cal_stud/cassidy/!.!.!.
http://www!.hermetic!.ch/cal_stud/cassidy/!.!.!.

As far as the calendar is concerned, though, the important thing is that the seasons arrive at the right time!. It’s June and summer is with us!. So so far, so good…Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Haven't heard anything like that myself but you have to remember all calendars are arbitrary!. Still when they instituted the Gregorian calendar they had to 'remove' 11 days, if we did it today it would immediately become July 14th or so!.

The issue with the Gregorian calendar today is that it doesn't mesh with atomic clocks!. Atomic time is more precise than 'real' time due to irregularities in the Earth's rotation so what they've been doing is adding 'leap seconds' every few years to off-set the difference!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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The Gregorian calendar and the missing 10 days was trying to make it so that any given date is always associated with the exact same position of the earth relative to sun!. The problem is that before that point they had been using 365 + 1/4 days to a solar year!. There was a drift of roughly one day per century!. Over the millenium Easter was moving around and the Catholic church felt that it was important to celebrate Easter on the day that was decided in the year 325!.
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As to being 50 years off, the only meaning that I can attach to that is that the year zero does not synchronize to the birth of Jesus!. Normally, most scholars presume that Jesus was born 2 to 7 years before the year zero!. I've never heard 50 years!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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I think that you were fooled or that you misunderstood, because the problem that you state does not exist!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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