The Moon goes through phases as it orbits Earth鈥攏ew, first quarter, full, and third quarter. The Moon's orbital period matches its rotational period keeping the same side pointed toward Earth. During phases ot
Tidal friction causes a loss in the angular momentum and the spin of the Moon slows down (see Moon fact #2 above). But, the moon never stops spinning: once its orbital period equals its rotational period, there’s no more tidal friction. The moon is “tidally locked” to the Earth....
Isaac Newtonused lunar observations in developing his theory ofgravitationin the late 17th century, and he was able to show some effects of solar gravity in perturbing the Moon’s motion. By the 18th and 19th centuries the mathematical study of lunar movements, both orbital and rotational...
Extremely slow recession of the Moon from the Earth has been recently proposed and attributed to conversion of Earth’s axial spin to lunar orbital momentum. This hypothesis is inconsistent with long-standing recognition that the Moon’s orbit involves three-body interactions. This and other short-...
If the Moon didn't spin at all, then eventually it would show its far side to the Earth while moving around our planet in orbit. However, since the rotational period is exactly the same as the orbital period, the same portion of the Moon's sphere is always facing the Earth. ...
Rotational period (days) 27.32166 Orbital period (days) 27.32166 Average length of lunar day (days) 29.53059 Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 1.03 Orbital eccentricity 0.0549 Tilt of axis (degrees) 1.5424 Orbital inclination (degrees) 5.1454 Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 1.62 Equatorial escape...
Mean distance from Jupiter (km) 670,900 Rotational period (days) 3.551181 Orbital period (days) 3.551181 Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 13.74 Orbital eccentricity 0.009 Orbital inclination (degrees) 0.470 Escape velocity (km/sec) 2.02 Visual geometric albedo 0.64 Magnitude (Vo) 5.29Animations...
(1,221,830 km), and has equal orbital and rotational periods of 15.9454 earth days. Titan was discovered by the Dutch physicist ChristiaanHuygensin 1655. Titan was thought to be the largest satellite in the solar system until recently, when it was recognized that estimates of its size had ...
(3) accounts for Earth–Moon tides, wherej = 1 arises from both the Moon’s orbital eccentricity and its fixed roughly 6.7° obliquity around the Earth, as well asj = 2 for the Sun–Moon tides. The Sun–Moon tides generate forcing potentials that are roughly 5–10 times and ...
Mean distance from Mars (km) 9,380 Rotational period (days) 0.31910 Orbital period (days) 0.31910 Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 2.14 Orbital eccentricity 0.01 Orbital inclination (degrees) 1.0 Escape velocity (km/sec) 0.0103 Visual geometric albedo 0.06 Magnitude (Vo) 11.3 Animations...