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Gravitation of the Moon. The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the Moon is approximately 1.625 m/s 2, about 16.6% that on Earth's surface or 0.166 ɡ. [1] Over the entire surface, the variation in gravitational acceleration is about 0.0253 m/s 2 (1.6% of the acceleration due to gravity). Because weight is directly dependent upon ...
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite.It orbits at an average distance of 384,400 km (238,900 mi), about 30 times the diameter of Earth. Tidal forces between Earth and the Moon have synchronized the Moon's orbital period (lunar month) with its rotation period at 29.5 Earth days, causing the same side of the Moon to always face Earth.
Every 18.6 years, the angle between the Moon's orbit and Earth's equator reaches a maximum of 28°36′, the sum of Earth's equatorial tilt (23°27′) and the Moon's orbital inclination (5°09′) to the ecliptic. This is called major lunar standstill. Around this time, the Moon's declination will vary from −28°36′ to +28°36′.
2024 PT5, which is larger than some of the other mini-moons, will also return to Earth's orbit — in 2055. Earth's gravity will pull it into its orbit and the asteroid will have negative ...
The gravitational effects of the Moon and the Sun (also the cause of the tides) have a very small effect on the apparent strength of Earth's gravity, depending on their relative positions; typical variations are 2 μm/s 2 (0.2 mGal) over the course of a day.
It is a generalisation of the vector form, which becomes particularly useful if more than two objects are involved (such as a rocket between the Earth and the Moon). For two objects (e.g. object 2 is a rocket, object 1 the Earth), we simply write r instead of r 12 and m instead of m 2 and define the gravitational field g(r) as:
The percentage columns show the distance from the orbit compared to the semimajor axis. E.g. for the Moon, L 1 is 326 400 km from Earth's center, which is 84.9% of the Earth–Moon distance or 15.1% "in front of" (Earthwards from) the Moon; L 2 is located 448 900 km from Earth's center, which is 116.8% of the Earth–Moon distance or 16.8% ...
Preflight engineering. Efficiency measures. Propulsive maneuvers. v. t. e. A sphere of influence (SOI) in astrodynamics and astronomy is the oblate-spheroid -shaped region where a particular celestial body exerts the main gravitational influence on an orbiting object.