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

DOI10.1007/978-1-4614-2149-8MaRDI QIDQ655138zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors J. M. Steele

Publication date 2 January 2012

Published in Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2149-8

zbMATH Keywords

Edmond HalleyLeonard EulerMoon's secular accelerationRichard DunthorneTobias Mayer

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 18th century (01A50) History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) Applications of statistics to physics (62P35) Three-body problems (70F07) Celestial mechanics (70F15) Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to astronomy and astrophysics (85-02) History of astronomy and astrophysics (85-03) General questions in astronomy and astrophysics (85A04) Galactic and stellar dynamics (85A05) Statistical astronomy (85A35)

Review text

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.

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Cited in

(5)

• The controversy surrounding the secular acceleration of the Moon's mean motion
• Historical eclipses and Earth's rotation
• Leonhard Euler's early lunar theories 1725--1752
• Reckoning time, longitude and the history of the Earth's rotation, using the Moon
• The development and transmission of 248-day schemes for lunar motion in Ancient astronomy

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