EARTH'S SHORTEST DAY

Aug. 5, 2022

On June 29, the Earth completed one full spin — a day — in 1.59 milliseconds less than its routine 24 hours. It was the shortest day recorded since the 1960s, when scientists first began to use the precise atomic clocks to measure the Earth’s rotational speed.

About:

  • It’s been happening fairly often these days — in recent years, the Earth has been spinning ever so slightly faster. On July 26, the day ended 1.50 milliseconds earlier, with the Earth almost breaking the record it set on June 29.
  • And in the year 2020, when all that the world could think about was the coronavirus, the Earth clocked 28 of its shortest recorded days, the website timeanddate.com reported. July 19 was the shortest of these short days of 2020 — ending 1.47 milliseconds sooner.