Sunday July 1, 2012: It’s the day that time stands still. Well, at least for one second.

At 09:59:59 AEST on Sunday morning, our clocks will tick over to 09:59:60 before hitting 10 o’clock. That’s right folks, you’re about to experience a minute with 61 seconds.

Chances are you previously experienced a leap second in 2008, 2005 and 1998. In the past, they have happened more than you may realise. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) is actually based on atomic clocks and our Earth’s wobble on its axis means that occasionally, Earth gets slightly out of sync.

Every so often the people who control time, a.k.a. the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, announce when we need a leap second. Unlike leap days, leap seconds occur simultaneously worldwide.

This year we would like you to share your second. As the quivering seconds hand approaches the hour, consider what you do with your extra time (all 1000 milliseconds of it).

Whether it’s a long leap, you’re reading the Sunday paper or catching the last 30 minutes of McDonalds breakfast, we would like to know.

Take a photo or share a leap second thought by tweeting us with the hashtag #leapsec2012 or post it on our Facebook wall.

And please, be punctual.

Leap second times:

UTC time	Sat, 30 June	23:59:60
Australian East Coast	Sunday 1 July	09:59:60
Adelaide, Darwin	Sunday 1 July	09:29:60
Perth	Sunday 1 July	07:59:60