Lunar theory attempts to account for the motions of the Moon. There are many irregularities (or perturbations) in the Moon's motion, and many attempts have been made over a long history to account for them. After centuries of being heavily problematic, the lunar motions are nowadays (see Modern developments) modelled to a very high degree of accuracy. Several aspects of lunar theory have accordingly become largely about history. But newly achieved levels of accuracy have also turned lunar theory into a sensitive instrument for new tests of physical theories.
Lunar theory includes:
- the background of general theory; including mathematical techniques used to analyze the Moon's motion and to generate formulae and algorithms for predicting its movements; and also
- quantitative formulae, algorithms, and geometrical diagrams that may be used to compute the Moon's position for a given time; often by the help of tables based on the algorithms.
Lunar theory has a history of over 2000 years of investigation. Its more modern developments have been used over the last three centuries for fundamental scientific and technological purposes, and are still being used in that way.
Read more about Lunar Theory: Applications of Lunar Theory, History, Newton, Classical Gravitational Period After Newton, Notes and References
Famous quotes containing the words lunar and/or theory:
“A bird half wakened in the lunar noon
Sang halfway through its little inborn tune.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The theory [before the twentieth century] ... was that all the jobs in the world belonged by right to men, and that only men were by nature entitled to wages. If a woman earned money, outside domestic service, it was because some misfortune had deprived her of masculine protection.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)