Ancient astronomical observations and the study of the Moon's motion (1691-1757). (Q655138)

The Moon's secular acceleration is the usual terminus for the following effect: The length of the month measured in days becomes shorter and shorter if evaluated over the centuries. As the Earth-Moon system is a quite complicated one, this effect has several different origins: 1. Due to tidal friction, the length of the day measured in seconds becomes longer over the centuries. 2. Due to angular momentum conservation of the Earth-Moon system, the revolution of the Moon around the Earth is influenced by the rotation of the Earth. 3. Even planet Jupiter has measurable influence to the motion of the Moon. The present book presents the history of the detection and measurements of the Moon's secular acceleration, especially in the 18th century and related to the names Edmond Halley, Richard Dunthorne, Leonhard Euler, and Tobias Mayer. Many historical arguments and measurements are collected.