Stay Curious

SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AND UNLOCK ONE MORE ARTICLE FOR FREE.

Sign Up

VIEW OUR Privacy Policy


Discover Magazine Logo

WANT MORE? KEEP READING FOR AS LOW AS $1.99!

Subscribe

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?

FIND MY SUBSCRIPTION
Advertisement

Constant Moon

Explore the fascinating Lunar Constants and Models Document, detailing lunar gravity and how future astronauts will tell time on the Moon.

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news

Sign Up

Note: a BA hat tip to Larry Klaes for the heads-up on this one.

This is way cool: Ralph B. Roncoli of the Solar System Dynamics group at JPL has put together a document called Lunar Constants and Models Document. Sound boring? It's anything but. Sure it's loaded with numbers and tables and data only a major geek like me could love (did you know that "the latest lunar gravity field, LP150Q, is a 150th spherical harmonic degree and order model"? Me neither). But it also has some very cool descriptions of our nearest cosmic neighbor. It talks about how the Moon's orbit is changing (due to the influence of the Sun's gravity), how lunar eclipses work, and how future astronauts can tell time on the Moon's surface.

It also has fantastic images of the Moon. It has a relief and surface marking map of the nearside (here's a taste, ...

Stay Curious

JoinOur List

Sign up for our weekly science updates

View our Privacy Policy

SubscribeTo The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Subscribe
Advertisement

0 Free Articles