Lunar month with the Sun one or two days before that evening ("e.g.", in the Islamic calendar). In ancient Egypt the lunar month began on the day when the waning moon could no longer be seen just before sunrise. Others use calculation, of varying degrees of sophistication, "e.g.", the Hebrew calendar or the ecclesiastical lunar calendar. Yet others run from full moon to full moon. Calendars count integer days, so months may be 29 or 30 days in length, in some regular or irregular sequence. In India the month from conjunction to conjunction is divided into thirty parts known as "tithis". The
Lunar phase Moon is almost fully lit by the Sun. Often, the dark side of the Moon is dimly illuminated by indirect sunlight reflected from Earth, but is bright enough to be easily visible from Earth. This phenomenon is called earthshine and sometimes picturesquely described as "the old moon in the new moon's arms" or, as pictured here, "the new moon in the old moon's arms". The Gregorian calendar month, which is of a tropical year, is about 30.44 days, while the cycle of lunar phases (the Moon's synodic period) repeats every 29.53 days on average. Therefore, the timing of the lunar