Convert Sidereal Days to Synodic Months

Convert Sidereal Days (sid.d) to Synodic Months (syn.mo) instantly and accurately.

Conversion Formula

syn.mo = sid.d × 0.03377073078

About Sidereal Days

A sidereal day = Earth's rotation period relative to the stars = 23 h 56 min 4.0905 s = 86,164.0905 s - ~3 min 56 s shorter than the 24 h solar day because Earth advances ~1° in its orbit each day. Equatorial telescope mounts rotate at one turn per sidereal day to track stars. VLBI, GPS orbit determination, and polar-motion monitoring use sidereal rotation as their reference. 1 sid. day = 86,164.0905 s.

About Synodic Months

A synodic (lunar) month = new moon to new moon = 29.5306 days = 2,551,442.9 s. Longer than the sidereal month (27.32 d) because Earth advances ~27° in its orbit during that time; the Moon must travel further to realign with the Sun. Islamic Hijri, Hebrew lunisolar, and Chinese calendars are built on synodic months. Eclipses repeat via the Saros cycle (18 yr 11 d = 223 synodic months). 1 syn.mo ≈ 29.5306 d.

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