Cornell Univ: Moon Is Facked, La-zers n' Shit, Dawg

[link to arxiv.org]
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18777.x

[link to onlinelibrary.wiley.com]

preface: distance between the moon and the earth varies from 356,400km to 406,700km...

A recent analysis of a Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data record spanning 38.7 yr revealed an anomalous increase of the eccentricity of the lunar orbit amounting to de/dt_meas = (9 +/- 3) 10^-12 yr^-1.

if the significance if this is not immediately apparent to you...


We examine several dynamical effects, long-range modified models of gravity, standard Newtonian/Einsteinian paradigm. It turns out that none of them can accommodate de/dt_meas.

none of the existing mathematical models can explain what they are seeing.


..acceleration of the Moon due to the Earth's angular momentum has the right order of magnitude, but the resulting Lense-Thirring secular effect for the eccentricity vanishes.

the increasing eccentricity of the moon is a framedragging effect, a warp in spacetime due to a massive rotating object, but it cannot be attributed to the rotation of the earth.

[link to en.wikipedia.org]
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

A potential...candidate would be Planet X, since it, actually, would affect e with a non-vanishing long-term variation.

only a rouge supermassive object has the ability to permanently affect the moon's orbit around the earth. no other hypothesis fits the data.

On the other hand, the values for the physical and orbital parameters of such a hypothetical body required to obtain the right order of magnitude for de/dt are completely unrealistic.

mass and angular momentum for said hypothetical object would be greater than previously thought, if indeed this is what is causing the change in lunar orbit.

Moreover, they are in neat disagreement with both the most recent theoretical scenarios envisaging the existence of a distant, planetary-sized body and with the model-independent constraints on them dynamically inferred from planetary motions

it could not be a planetary size/mass object, as is demonstrated by equations that are based on the known movements and behaviors of local planets.

Thus, the issue of finding a satisfactorily explanation for the anomalous behavior of the Moon's eccentricity remains open.



also, this pdf is dated 2007, provide newer data or fail.
[link to astrometric.sai.msu.ru]


k, yer tern.

convince me that this is irrelevant, its insignificant data, that the laser ranging equipment is unreliable, this sorta thing happens all the time, we dont understand the moon, lasers aren't real, ect, ect.

reality: in nearly forty years of observation, this has never happened before.

EVVAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!1!1!!one