Effect of Tidal Friction on the Lunar Orbit and the Rotation of Earth and Its Determination by Laser Ranging

E. Halley discovered that the observed longitude of the Moon shows an acceleration by dynamic theory. Over more than two centuries, numerous improvements have been brought to the lunar theory, but a large anomalous acceleration remains even now. The historical progress toward a physical explanation and numerical determination has been admirably detailed by Muller (1975). Eventually, the purely theoretical possibilities based on classical celestial mechanics were exhausted, and it became a firmly accepted principle that the residual acceleration was due to tidal friction. Thus, in one hypothesis, the astronomic problem was “solved”, and a new means was found for studying the physics of the elastic Earth.

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