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Re:Mars Needs Leap Days Too by twic on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @02:15AM (#22472468)
> But there is one planet where the calendar would need zero finessing: Mercury. The small planet revolves exactly three times, or days, over the course of two years — allowing its calendar to naturally align every other year.

I would imagine that this is some form of resonance, like the tidal locking of the moon, but i can't explain it myself.

Re:Mars Needs Leap Days Too by Sharlin on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @04:45AM (#22473113)
It is indeed:

> In some cases where the orbit is eccentric and the tidal effect is relatively weak, the smaller body may end up in a so-called spin–orbit resonance, rather than being tidally locked. Here, the ratio of the rotation period of a body to its own orbital period is some simple fraction different from 1:1. A well known case is the rotation of Mercury, which is locked to its own orbit around the Sun in a 3:2 resonance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking

Re:Mars Needs Leap Days Too by gowld on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @02:47PM (#22478088)
It rotates three times per 2 revolutions, right?