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
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