Time Zones
Because of the division of the globe into time zones, the new year moves progressively around the globe as the start of the day ushers in the New Year. The first time zone to usher in the New Year, just west of the International Date Line, is located in the Line Islands, a part of the nation of Kiribati, and has a time zone 14 hours ahead of UTC. All other time zones are 1 to 25 hours behind, most in the previous day (31 December); on American Samoa and Midway, it is still 11 PM on 30 December. These are among the last inhabited places to observe New Year. However, uninhabited outlying U.S. territories Howland Island and Baker Island are designated as lying within the time zone 12 hours behind UTC, the last places on earth to see the arrival of 1 January. These small coral islands are found about midway between Hawaii and Australia, about 1,000 miles west of the Line Islands! This is because the International Date Line is a composite of local time zone arrangements, which winds through the Pacific Ocean, allowing each locale to remain most closely connected in time with the nearest or largest or most convenient political and economic locales with which each associates. By the time Howland island sees the new year, it is 2 AM on 2 January in the Line Islands of Kiribati.

If you are in one of the time zones, or know someone there, wish us and them a happy New Year!
Or if you just feel like you need to exclaim it every (half an) hour... this is your thread. :)

I'll await your phone call, Tomas. Just can't promise I'm fully awake by then.

---

For a hint about which timezone has hit 2015, see http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/firstnewyear.html

Happy 2015 Samoa, Kiribati and New Zealand!

Chris S wrote:

May I wish you a Happy and peaceful New year Jord, and thank you for putting up with us :-))

You had to remind me? Brrr... ;-p

---

Happy New year Japan, both Korea's and Australia.

---

China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, welcome to 2015!

---

Irak, Russia (Moscow), Turkey, Israel, all the war zones in the Middle East, Greece, Egypt.

We're next.

---

Oosterhout!

Happy New Year.

---

Happy New Year from Vancouver, BC.

Happy New Year everyone. :-)

---

Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos
Pluto is still a planet

Time Zones
The first time zone to usher in the New Year, just west of the International Date Line, is located in the Line Islands, a part of the nation of Kiribati, and has a time zone 14 hours ahead of UTC. All other time zones are 1 to 25 hours behind, most in the previous day (31 December); on American Samoa and Midway, it is still 11 PM on 30 December. These are among the last inhabited places to observe New Year. However, uninhabited outlying U.S. territories Howland Island and Baker Island are designated as lying within the time zone 12 hours behind UTC, the last places on earth to see the arrival of 1 January. These small coral islands are found about midway between Hawaii and Australia, about 1,000 miles west of the Line Islands! This is because the International Date Line is a composite of local time zone arrangements, which winds through the Pacific Ocean, allowing each locale to remain most closely connected in time with the nearest or largest or most convenient political and economic locales with which each associates. By the time Howland island sees the new year, it is 2 AM on 2 January in the Line Islands of Kiribati.

So, if my brain is doing the math correctly without aid of paper or computer, from the first moment of any particular day to the last moment of the same day, 50 hours pass. (Okay, minus one second, if you insist. I'm rounding up.)

Interesting (sort of, somehow, I guess...).

---

signature

Ummmmmm, the earth rotates once in a fraction over 24 hours. Therefore by that calculation, first to last must be 48 hours.

Well, if you ignore time zones. The time zone that would be centered on the date line is split in half and is actually two zones.

---

Christmas Island is UTC+14.
Therefore, 00:00:01 on 11 Jan. would be 10:00:01 10 Jan. UTC.

Howland Island is UTC-12.
Therefore, 23:59:59 on 11 Jan. would be 11:59:59 12 Jan. UTC.

Time elapsed from one UTC time to the other is 50 hours (less 2 seconds).

---

signature