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> 14 days out of 28 Out of 29 and a half actually. I'm curious where the misconception that a lunar month is 28 days comes from. I believed it too but I can'
by Asraelite 5y ago
> 14 days out of 28
Out of 29 and a half actually.
I'm curious where the misconception that a lunar month is 28 days comes from. I believed it too but I can't find any good reason for doing so.
- credit_guy 5y agoYou are right, and I was just lazy. 28 is an even number, and it felt nicer to say 14 days out of 28, rather than 14.75 out of 29.5. Separately though, the misconception comes from the fact that we have 4 phases of the Moon (new, first quarter, full, last quarter), and it's easy to conceptualize that the interval between two is 7 days, or one week, rather than 7.38264725.
- dave333 5y agoSidereal month (relative to fixed stars) is 27.32 days. Synodic month relative to Earth is 29.53. There are other months that correct sidereal for motion around the sun, eccentricity of the lunar orbit, and tilt of lunar orbit, but the difference is tiny. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_month https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_month