Synodic month

This is the average period of the Moon's revolution with respect to the Sun. The synodic month
is a description of the Moon's phases, because the Moon's appearance depends on the position of
the Moon with respect to the Sun as seen from the Earth. While the moon is orbiting the Earth,
the Earth is progressing in its orbit around the Sun. This means that after completing a sidereal
month the Moon must move a little farther to reach the new position of the Earth with respect to
the Sun. This longer period is called the synodic month (Greek: σὺν ὁδῴ, sun hodō, meaning
"with the way [of the Sun]"). Because of perturbations in the orbits of the Earth and Moon, the
actual time between lunations may range from about 29.27 to about 29.83 days. The long-term
average duration is 29.530589 days (29 d 12 h 44 min 2.9 s). The synodic month is used in the
Metonic cycle