On the extreme lunar velocities (Q2501238)

The problem addressed in this paper is an accurate determination of the apparent extreme angular velocities of the Moon as observed from the Earth, for which only crude numerical estimates are to be found even in modern times. An exact knowledge of the extreme angular velocities of the Moon is indispensable for the analysis of historical astronomical records. In a first section the author briefly reviews such data from China, Greece, Babylonia and astronomers like Tycho Brahe. He then sketches his determination of the true velocities, limiting however mathematical descriptions to a minimum. In the next section, Maeyama gives a simplified approximation formula for deriving the basic structure of the lunar velocities and finally shows that his theoretical computations agree with the astronomical tables compiled by Goldstine and Tuckerman, which survey historical data of lunar positions.