AS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Lunar Prospector, Angular Diameter, Orbital Eccentricity
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For the record, the average distance from earth to moon is 384,400 km with an orbital eccentricity of 0. 055 resulting in a variation of distance of + 21,200 km. The moon"s sidereal period is 27. 3 days but it takes 29. 53 days to move through its phases because of the earth"s orbit around the sun (previously discussed). The moon is actually tipped at 6. 7 to its own orbit which is, in turn, tipped at. 5. 15 to the ecliptic (a fact which allows us to see full and new moons regularly without eclipses (both lunar and solar) recall that eclipses happen when the sun, The moon"s size (0. 27 of earth) and proximity creates an angular diameter in our sky of 1 2 (also discussed before). Recall that the moon goes through phases (see below) where we see a new moon when it is between the sun and earth, a first quarter about 7 days later, a full.
