Lunar day around the Sun at the same time, the Moon must travel further to return to the same phase. On average, this synodic period lasts 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds. This is the mean figure since the speed of the Earth–Moon system around the Sun varies slightly during a year due to the eccentricity of its elliptical orbit, variances in orbital velocity, and a number of other periodic and evolving variations about its observed, relative, mean values, which are influenced by the gravitational perturbations of the Sun and other bodies in the Solar System. As a result,
Military designation of days and hours Military designation of days and hours The military designation of days and hours within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), is specified in AAP-6 (STANAG 3680), "NATO Glossary of Terms and Definitions", and marked "(NATO)" in what follows. Those entries marked "(US)" are specific to the U.S., and defined only in Joint Publication JP 1-02, "Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms". References to days (or hours) preceding or following a designated day (or hour) use a plus or minus sign and an Arabic numeral following the letter. For example, "D−3" is 3 days prior to D-day, "C+7"