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The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems has added one extra second to the end of June 30, 2015. The so-called "leap second" will be inserted at 23:59:60 UTC on June 30, immediately before the calendar flips into July.
Leap seconds are intended to account for a very minor discrepancy between the atomic click and Earth's actual rotation: although the Earth's rotation gradually slows, atomic clocks are programmed to tell time with absolutely no variation. Thus, the additional second will put atomic clocks back on par with the Earth.
According to time-telling service timeanddate.com, 25 extra leap seconds have been added to the calendar since 1972.
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