I think shopaholic simply stated a fact literature about astronomy that discusses the Astronomy of Chazal generally acknowledges that Chazal in their writings displayed a knowledge of astronomy that was far beyond what was known in their times.
Perhaps, but using the period of the moon is a bad example, as I’ve demonstrated that it can be calculated by doing nothing more than counting and using long division.
BTW as for the actual calculations in question I admit that this stuff is not my strong point however from what I understood from what I studied part of the differences in calculation have to do with the fact that we Chazal count the seasons differently then seculars six as opposed to four.
The length of time from one new moon to the next has absolutely nothing to do with the number of seasons.
The Wolf