New moon western horizon shortly after sunset and before moonset. A lunation or synodic month is the average time from one new moon to the next. In the J2000.0 epoch, the average length of a lunation is 29.530588 days (or 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds). However, the length of any one synodic month can vary from 29.26 to 29.80 days due to the perturbing effects of the Sun's gravity on the Moon's eccentric orbit. In a lunar calendar, each month corresponds to a lunation. Each lunar cycle can be assigned a unique lunation number to identify it. The
Apollo 15 operations on the Lunar surface Apollo 15 operations on the Lunar surface Apollo 15 lunar surface operations were conducted from July 30 to August 2, 1971, by Apollo 15 Commander David Scott and lunar module Pilot James Irwin, who used the first lunar rover to make three exploratory trips away from their landing site at the base of the Apennine Mountains, near Hadley Rille. They collected a total of of lunar surface material during 18½ hours outside their lunar module, "Falcon". At 104 hours, 30 minutes and 12 seconds GET the descent engine of "Falcon" ignited. Burning at about 10% for the first 26 seconds