Islamic calendar lunar months begin precisely at the time of the monthly "conjunction", when the Moon is located most directly between the Earth and the Sun. The month is defined as the average duration of a revolution of the Moon around the Earth (29.53 days). By convention, months of 30 days and 29 days succeed each other, adding up over two successive months to 59 full days. This leaves only a small monthly variation of 44 minutes to account for, which adds up to a total of 24 hours (i.e., the equivalent of one full day) in 2.73 years. To settle accounts,
2007 Iditarod minutes later at 10:28:12 pm with a time of 9 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 12 seconds. Steer finished third five hours and 48 minutes later at 03:46:07 with a time of 9 days, 12 hours, 46 minutes, and 7 seconds. Buser finished fourth 21 minutes after Steer at 04:07:04 with a time of 9 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes, and 4 seconds. King finished fifth two hours later at 06:05:17 am with a time of 9 days, 15 hours, 5 minutes, and 17 seconds. Twenty-three mushers have scratched from the race: Witnesses said they saw Ramy Brooks punch