easter_date
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
easter_date — Get Unix timestamp for midnight on Easter of a given year
Description
int easter_date
([ int $year
] )
Warning
This function will generate a warning if the year is outside
of the range for Unix timestamps (i.e. before 1970 or after 2037).
The date of Easter Day was defined by the Council of Nicaea in
AD325 as the Sunday after the first full moon which falls on or
after the Spring Equinox. The Equinox is assumed to always fall
on 21st March, so the calculation reduces to determining the date
of the full moon and the date of the following Sunday. The
algorithm used here was introduced around the year 532 by
Dionysius Exiguus. Under the Julian Calendar (for years before
1753) a simple 19-year cycle is used to track the phases of the
Moon. Under the Gregorian Calendar (for years after 1753 -
devised by Clavius and Lilius, and introduced by Pope Gregory
XIII in October 1582, and into Britain and its then colonies in
September 1752) two correction factors are added to make the
cycle more accurate.
(The code is based on a C program by Simon Kershaw,
<webmaster at ely.anglican dot org>)
Parameters
-
year
-
The year as a number between 1970 an 2037
Return Values
The easter date as a unix timestamp.
Examples
Example #1 easter_date() example
<?php
echo date("M-d-Y", easter_date(1999)); // Apr-04-1999
echo date("M-d-Y", easter_date(2000)); // Apr-23-2000
echo date("M-d-Y", easter_date(2001)); // Apr-15-2001
?>
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