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The moon orbits the earth in a little under 28 earth days. It travels at almost 2,290 miles per hour. Coincidentally, the moon's rotation period is also a little under 28 days, meaning the same face points toward the earth during its entire orbit.
Ignoring the earth position relative to our sun, the moon takes 27 days 7 hours and 43 minutes to orbit the earth - the sidereal orbit (orbit relative to background stars). Duâ¦ring this time, the earth has progressed around the sun a little, on its orbit around the sun. For the moon to get back to exactly the right phase, it takes a little longer, 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes in total from full moon to the next full moon. This is known as the synodic period. The moon will have made just over one orbit relative to the background stars, and will have moved round slightly to be in front of some different stars to those at the previous full moon.