Islamic calendar lunar months begin precisely at the time of the monthly "conjunction", when the Moon is located most directly between the Earth and the Sun. The month is defined as the average duration of a revolution of the Moon around the Earth (29.53 days). By convention, months of 30 days and 29 days succeed each other, adding up over two successive months to 59 full days. This leaves only a small monthly variation of 44 minutes to account for, which adds up to a total of 24 hours (i.e., the equivalent of one full day) in 2.73 years. To settle accounts,
Military designation of days and hours is 7 days after C-day, "H−2" is 2 hours before H-hour, and so forth. In less formal contexts, the time is usually spelled out, so that "D−3" becomes "D minus three" or "D minus 3". 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