Longitude is an imaginary semi-circle vertical line drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole across the Equator. There are 360 such lines. Each line represents one degree. It means there are 360° longitudes. They are divided into two equal halves 0-180 to the East and 0-180 to the West, they are called East and West Longitude. 0° longitude is called Prime Meridian, which passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England. The Prime Meridian is used to define Universal Time. It is the meridian from which all other time zones are calculated. Time zones to the east of the Prime Meridian are in advance and time zones to the west are behind.
Longitudes are related with time. The earth takes 1 hr to cover 15° longitude lines. Therefore, 1° equals 4 minutes as it is required 24 hrs to cover 360° longitudes or the complete circle. The earth rotates from West to East. This movement of the earth is called Rotation of the Earth. This causes a day and a night. The earth takes 24 hrs on its axis to cover 360°.
It means, the time at 15° East of the Prime Meridian will be 1 hr ahead than at the Prime Meridian, and similarly, the time at 15° West of the Meridian will be 1 hr behind than that of the Meridian. The semi-circle longitude lines at one time of the day appear nearer to the sun because of the earth rotation. During the rotation, each longitude comes once to face one by one to the sun perpendicularly. This time is considered as 12 O’ clock or midday all along the line: North to South. At this particular time, a shadow of any object becomes the shortest during the whole day of 12 hrs.
Nepal’s latitude and longitude are 28° 00′ N and 84 ° 00′ E .
The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line on the surface of the Earth. It was established by the International Meridian Conference of 1884. It runs from the North to the South Pole and demarcates one calendar day from the next. It passes through the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180° Longitude but it deviates to pass around some territories ana island groups. The IDL is on the opposite side of the Earth to the Prime Meridian. We may say that the line from where the date changes are known as International Date Line.
The most interesting fact about the IDL is that it is not straight rather irregular or curved. One may wonder why it is like this. The reason is simple and straight. You know, what happens? If this line is straight and crosses any one country, then there will be 24 hrs of the time difference in the same country. To avoid such a complication IDL is drawn not straight but irregularly drawn. The time after 12 noon is called PM and after 12 midnight is called AM.
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Calculation of Time
As longitudes are related with time, we can find out the time of a place with the reference of time or longitude of another place. To do this, we need to calculate first the difference of longitudes between the two places. While finding out this difference, we should subtract the smaller number from the greater if both places are located in the same hemisphere (East or West), but should add if the places are lying in opposite hemispheres.
Then we should multiply that difference of longitudes by 4 to convert into minute and seconds since 1° represents 4 minutes. We should again convert that into hr, minute and second dividing by 60. Finally, we should either add or subtract the time with or from the given time depending on whether it is in the East or in the West of the given place to find out the time or’ the required place.
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We should subtract the obtained time from the given time it is in the West ,and if it doesn’t subtract, we should add 12 in the given time and then subtract me obtained time and express the final outcome in AM or PM. In the same way, we should add it is in the East. If the outcome is more than 12 hrs, then subtract the 12 hr and decide whether the remaining time is Am or PM.
Nepal Time is GMT+5:45
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What Local Time Is
The time in a particular region or area or place expressed with reference to the Meridian passing through it is called the Local Time. It is the time of a particular place the sun is overhead or passing the longitude. Local time of different places within a country at different longitudes varies from one another. It can’t be the same because the earth takes 4 minutes to travel the distance of 1° longitude.
The sun won’t be overhead of places 80° E and 90° E Longitude at the same time. For example our country Nepal is elongated East-West from 80° 4′ E to 88° 12′ E longitudes. The sun doesn’t rise and set all over the country at the same time. Definitely, the places in the East have earlier sun rise and sun set than the places in the West. But, the places falling in the same longitudes (North-South) will have the same local time. Hence, we may say that the time based on longitude is called the Local Time.
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Local time of different places lying in the East or in the West of the same country won’t be the same. In terms of the Local Time, the time of Kathmandu will be definitely different than that of Biratnagar lying in the East than that of Dipayal lying in the West of Kathmandu. Kathmandu local time will be behind than that of Biratnagar and ahead of Dipayal.
What Standard Time Is
As it is confusing and impracticable to have different times in the same country, most of the countries follow the local time of a particular place or a longitude as the Standard Time of their country. Standard time is followed in the whole country or region. Such a time followed all over the country or region is called the Standard Time. It can be the time of a particular longitude or the longitude of the national capital or the longitude of the center of the country or the longitude of any other important landmark in the country. In the case of Nepal, the time at Gaurishankhar Himal at 86° 15′ E is the Standard Nepal Time. Big countries like the USA, Canada, Russia, and Australia which stretch from the East to West have more than one Standard Time. Russia has 11, Canada 6 and the USA has 5 Standard Time.
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Greenwich Mean Time also known as Universal Time at 0° Longitude is considered as the Standard Time for the world. The Standard Time of different countries is calculated in reference to this time. Standard time is set in such away that it can be exactly divisible by 15 minutes from the Prime Meridian. For example Nepal’s standard time is 5 hrs and 45 minutes ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time and it is exactly divisible by 15. The United Kingdom and some European countries have taken the Greenwich Mean Time as their Standard Time.
Nepali Calendar 2079
Nepali Patro is based on the Bikram Samvat calendar and Bikram Samvat calendar is approximately 56 years and 8.5 months ahead of the Gregorian Calendar or AD or English Calendar. Nepali patro is the words in Nepali language.
The new year in Nepal starts from the Baishakh month which is in middle of april (approximately 17th of the april). According to the English Calendar, the maximum number of days in a month is 31, but in the Bikram Sambat nepali Calendar it can have upto 32 days in a month.
Bikram Sambat calendar is mostly used in the country like Nepal and India. Some countries of the world such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Thiland, Malaysia and Bhutan are also using Bikram Sambat Calendar.
This Bikram Samvat calendar can give you some exact information of the date of celebration, festivals, Public holidays, Marriage dates, Bratabandha dates and Dashain(Bijaya Dashami), Tihar (Depawali), Chath Parba etc.
Current Nepali calendar year is Nepali Calendar 2079 and new Nepali Calendar is new Nepali Calendar 2079 Bikram sambat.
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Nepali Calendar 2079
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