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,
Decimal time Decimals are easier to plot than both (a) minutes and seconds, which uses the Sexagesimal numbering system, (b) hours, months and days, which has irregular month lengths. In astronomy, the so-called Julian day uses decimal days centered on noon. Since there are 60 seconds in a minute, a tenth part represents 60/10 = 6 seconds. Since there are 60 minutes in an hour, a tenth part represents 60/10 = 6 minutes. Since there are 24 hours in a day, a tenth part represents 24/10 = 2.4 hours (2 hours and 24 minutes). Since there are about 365 days in a