The Capture Theory of Satellites: 1. The Capture Theory of Satellites, with Application to the Planets of the Solar System, Including the Case of Our Own Moon. 2. The Cause of the Outstanding Secular Acceleration in the Mean Motion of the Moon and of the Recently Discovered Indication of a Secular Acceleration in the Mean Motion of the Sun.

1909 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
T. J. J. See
1990 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 201-202
Author(s):  
V. Protitch-Benishek

The secular quadratic term in the expression of the Moon's longitude has been introduced empirically after the conclusion that its mean motion is not constant (Halley, 1695).But, the explanation of this term and also of its numerical evaluation presented and still presents in our time great difficulties. All efforts, namely, to obtain an exact agreement between observed and theoretical value of Moon's secular acceleration were unsuccessful: the first of these two values exceeds always the second one by a very large amount. This discordance and unexplained residuals (O – C) in the mean longitude of the Moon gave rise finally to the statement that these are due to a retardation and irregularity in the Earth's rotation. But, after hardly a fifty years, this hypothesis revealed even more new difficulties and questions concerning also the problem of stability of the Earth-Moon system. It seems that there is a true reason for which this problem occurs as one of the unsolved problems of Celestial Mechanics (Brumberg and Kovalevsky, 1986; Seidelmann, 1986).


1974 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 319-319
Author(s):  
S. Yumi ◽  
K. Hurukawa ◽  
Th. Hirayama

For a precise reduction to the apparent places of the stars in a uniform system during the 19th and 20th centuries, the ‘Solar Coordinates 1800–2000’ by Herget (Astron. Papers14, 1953) may conveniently be used, because no coordinates of the Sun, referred to the mean equinox of 1950.0, are given in the Astronomical Ephemeris before 1930.A maximum difference of 0″.0003 was found between the aberrations calculated from both the Astronomical Ephemeris and Herget's Tables for the period 1960–1969, taking into consideration the effect of the outer planets, which amounted to 0″.0109.The effect of the inner planets on the aberration is estimated to be of the order of 0″.0001 at the most and the correction for the lunar term due to the change in astronomical constants is 0″.00002. It is recommended that the solar coordinates be calculated directly from Newcomb's formulae taking the effects of all the planets into consideration, but the effect concerned with the Moon can be neglected.


The author had pointed out, in a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1828, on the corrections of the elements of Delambre’s Solar Tables, that the comparison of the corrections of the epochs of the sun and the sun’s perigee, given by the late observations, with the corrections given by the observations of the last century, appears to indicate the existence of some inequality not included in the arguments of those tables. As it was necessary, therefore, to seek for some inequality of long period, he commenced an examination of the mean motions of the planets, with the view of discovering one whose ratio to the mean motion of the earth could be expressed very nearly by a proportion of which the terms are small. The appearances of Venus are found to recur in very nearly the same order every eight years; some multiple, therefore, of the periodic time of Venus is nearly equal to eight years. It is easily seen that this multiple must be thirteen; and consequently eight times the mean motion of Venus is nearly equal to thirteen times the mean motion of the earth. The difference is about one 240th of the mean annual motion of the earth; and it implies the existence of an inequality of which the period is about 240 years. No term has yet been calculated whose period is so long with respect to the periodic time of the planets disturbed. The value of the principal term, calculated from the theory, was given by the author in a postscript to the paper above referred to. In the present memoir he gives an account of the method of calculation, and includes also other terms which are necessarily connected with the principal inequality. The first part treats of the perturbation of the earth’s longitude and radius victor; the second of the perturbation of the earth in latitude; and the third of the perturbations of Venus depending upon the same arguments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 2775
Author(s):  
Hanlin Ye ◽  
Wei Zheng ◽  
Huadong Guo ◽  
Guang Liu ◽  
Jinsong Ping

The solar invasion to an Earth observation sensor will cause potential damage to the sensor and reduce the accuracy of the measurements. This paper investigates the effects of solar invasion on the Moon-based Earth observation sensors. Different from the space-borne platform, a Moon-based sensor can be equipped anywhere on the near-side of the Moon, and this makes it possible to reduce solar invasion effects by selecting suitable regions to equip sensors. In this paper, methods for calculating the duration of the Sun entering of the sensor’s field of view (FOV) and the solar invasion radiation at the entrance pupil of the sensor are proposed. By deducing the expressions of the proposed geometrical relationship between the Sun, Earth, and Moon-based platform, it has been found that the key parameter to the effects of solar invasion is the angle between the Sun direction and the line-of-sight vector. Based on this parameter, both the duration and radiation can be calculated. In addition, an evaluation approach based on the mean value and standard deviation has been established to compare the variation of solar invasion radiation at different positions on the lunar surface. The results show that the duration is almost the same wherever the sensor is placed in the permanent Earth-observation region. Further, by comparing the variation of solar invasion radiation at different positions on the near-side of the Moon, we suggest that equipping sensors on the mid–high latitude regions within the permanent Earth-observation region will result in less solar invasion affects.


It is known that Hansen employed 12·8" for the value of the secular acceleration of the mean longitude of the Moon, instead of the value 6·18" deduced from theory, for the reason that the results of his theoretical development could not be brought by any smaller value into accord with the observations of the early solar eclipses and the later Greenwich observations. Later research has shown that these early solar eclipses can be as well represented by the theoretical value of the secular acceleration as by the empirical value employed by Hansen in his tables, and the present note will suffice to show that the more modern observations can also be represented by the theoretical value of the secular acceleration, thus serving to reconcile theory and observation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 643 ◽  
pp. A146
Author(s):  
J. I. González Hernández ◽  
R. Rebolo ◽  
L. Pasquini ◽  
G. Lo Curto ◽  
P. Molaro ◽  
...  

Context. The general theory of relativity predicts the redshift of spectral lines in the solar photosphere as a consequence of the gravitational potential of the Sun. This effect can be measured from a solar disk-integrated flux spectrum of the Sun’s reflected light on Solar System bodies. Aims. The laser frequency comb (LFC) calibration system attached to the HARPS spectrograph offers the possibility of performing an accurate measurement of the solar gravitational redshift (GRS) by observing the Moon or other Solar System bodies. Here, we analyse the line shift observed in Fe absorption lines from five high-quality HARPS-LFC spectra of the Moon. Methods. We selected an initial sample of 326 photospheric Fe lines in the spectral range between 476–585 nm and measured their line positions and equivalent widths (EWs). Accurate line shifts were derived from the wavelength position of the core of the lines compared with the laboratory wavelengths of Fe lines. We also used a CO5BOLD 3D hydrodynamical model atmosphere of the Sun to compute 3D synthetic line profiles of a subsample of about 200 spectral Fe lines centred at their laboratory wavelengths. We fit the observed relatively weak spectral Fe lines (with EW< 180 mÅ) with the 3D synthetic profiles. Results. Convective motions in the solar photosphere do not affect the line cores of Fe lines stronger than about ∼150 mÅ. In our sample, only 15 Fe I lines have EWs in the range 150< EW(mÅ) < 550, providing a measurement of the solar GRS at 639 ± 14 m s−1, which is consistent with the expected theoretical value on Earth of ∼633.1 m s−1. A final sample of about 97 weak Fe lines with EW < 180 mÅ allows us to derive a mean global line shift of 638 ± 6 m s−1, which is in agreement with the theoretical solar GRS. Conclusions. These are the most accurate measurements of the solar GRS obtained thus far. Ultrastable spectrographs calibrated with the LFC over a larger spectral range, such as HARPS or ESPRESSO, together with a further improvement on the laboratory wavelengths, could provide a more robust measurement of the solar GRS and further testing of 3D hydrodynamical models.


1987 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 91-95
Author(s):  
S.K. Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  

The first treatise on calendric astronomy was compiled C1300 B.C.and is known as “The Vedāṅga Jyautiṣa. It gives rules for framing calendar covering a five-year period, called a ‘Yuga’. In this yuga-period calendar, there were 1830 civil days, 60 solar months, 62 synodic lunar months, and 67 sidereal lunar months. The calendar was luni-solar, and the year started from the first day of the bright fortnight when the Sun returned to the Delphini star group. Corrections were made, as required, to maintain this stipulation to the extent possible. The Vedāṅga calendar was framed on the mean motions of the luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, and was based on approximate values of their periods. Vedāṅga Jyautiṣa calendar remained in use for a very long time from C 1300 B.C. to C 400 A.D. when Siddhānta Jyautiṣa calendar based on true positions of the Sun and the Moon came into use and gradually replaced totally the Vedāṅga calendar.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamey Szalay ◽  
Petr Pokorny ◽  
Mihaly Horanyi ◽  
Stuart Bale ◽  
Eric Christian ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;The zodiacal cloud in the inner solar system undergoes continual evolution, as its dust grains are collisionally ground and sublimated into smaller and smaller sizes. Sufficiently small (~&lt;500 nm) grains known as beta-meteoroids are ejected from the inner solar system on hyperbolic orbits under the influence of solar radiation pressure. These small grains can reach significantly larger speeds than those in the nominal zodiacal cloud and impact the surfaces of airless bodies. Since the discovery of the Moon's asymmetric ejecta cloud, the origin of its sunward-canted density enhancement has not been well understood. We propose impact ejecta from beta-meteoroids that hit the Moon's sunward side could explain this unresolved asymmetry. The proposed hypothesis rests on the fact that beta-meteoroids are one of the few truly asymmetric meteoroid sources in the solar system, as unbound grains always travel away from the Sun and lack a symmetric inbound counterpart. This finding suggests beta-meteoroids may also contribute to the evolution of other airless surfaces in the inner solar system as well as within other exo-zodiacal disks. We will also highlight recent observations from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft, which suggest it is being bombarded by the very same beta-meteoroids. We discuss how observations by PSP, which lacks a dedicated dust detector, can be used to inform the structure and variability of beta-meteoroids in the inner solar system closer to the Sun than ever before.&lt;/p&gt;


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document