Lunar theory

Lunar theory attempts to account for the motions of the <a href="/facts/Moon/zKHqEMPb">Moon</a>. There are many small variations (or <a href="/facts/Perturbation_(astronomy)/og5hPpjQ">perturbations</a>) in the Moon's motion, and many attempts have been made to account for them. After centuries of being problematic, lunar motion can now be modeled to a very high degree of accuracy (see section Modern developments).
Lunar theory includes:

<ul><li>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</li>
<li>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.</li></ul>
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.

Lunar theory open-in-new

Lunar theory