Abstract
OF the lunar theories hitherto completed the two greatest are undoubtedly those of Hansen and Delaunay. The former has for its chief object the formation of tables: the inconvenience of slowly converging series is avoided by using numerical values throughout; and the problem solved is the one actually presented by nature, every known cause of disturbance being allowed for. It suffers, however, under the disadvantage that there are no means of correcting the results for any change in the values of the constants that observation may demand. This drawback was avoided by Delaunay, but only at the expense of still greater evils irom the point of view of the making of an ephemeris; for owing to the slow convergence of certain series, twenty years' labour did not suffice to give sufficiently approximate results; moreover, the problem had to be considerably modified from the circumstances of nature, in order to achieve a result within even so long a time.
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Theory of the Motion of the Moon. Nature 57, 88–90 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/057088b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/057088b0