Lunar calendars
Months follow the Moon's phases.
Counting moons
In ancient times, people noticed that one cycle of the seasons fits nearly 12 cycles of the Moon's phases.
How many lunar months make a lunar year?
What this lesson covers
The idea
A lunar calendar has the day as its shortest unit, months of nearly 29.5 days following the Moon's phases, and a lunar year of 12 lunar months.
Counting moons
In ancient times, people noticed that one cycle of the seasons fits nearly 12 cycles of the Moon's phases.
How many lunar months make a lunar year?
- 12
- 7
- 30
A lunar year
Press Next step.
Moon-based time
A lunar calendar has the day as the shortest unit, a month of nearly 29.5 days that follows the Moon's phases, and a lunar year of 12 lunar months. The phases of the Moon gave an easy way to track time.
Lunar calendar: day = shortest unit, month ≈ 29.5 days (follows the Moon's phases), lunar year = 12 lunar months.
Notes
Lunar calendar: months follow the Moon; 12 lunar months = a lunar year.
Check yourself
How many lunar months are in a lunar year?
Answer: 12
A lunar year has 12 lunar months.
In a lunar calendar the months follow the …
The shortest unit in a lunar calendar is the …
A lunar month is about …
- seasons. That is for the solar year.
- shadows. Lunar months follow the Moon's phases.
- Moon's phases — correct. Yes!
- day — correct. Yes!
- month. The month is longer than a day.
- year. The year is the longest.
- 365 days. That is about a year.
- 29.5 days — correct. Yes!
- 7 days. That is about a week.