Home > Lunar distance
In celestial navigation, lunar distance is in the angle of the Moon's centre from the Sun or from the bright stars. It is measured using a sextant. Using the lunar distance and a nautical almanac it is possible to calculate the current time and thus the current longitude.
In astronomy, a lunar distance is the distance from Earth to the Moon. The average distance from Earth to the Moon is 384,403 kilometer (238,857 miles). High-precision measurements of the lunar distance are made with the help of lidar measurements of the round-trip times for light beams between lasers at Earth-based monitoring stations and retroreflectors placed on the Moon. (See Lunar Laser Ranging ExperimentThe ongoing Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment was first made possible by a lunar laser ranging retroreflector array planted on the Moon on July 21, 1969, by the crew of the Apollo 11. Since then, the distance between the Earth and the Moon has been measured).
See also
- navigationThis article concerns navigation in the sense of determination of position and direction on the surface of the Earth. See Navigation (disambiguation) for other meanings. There are several traditions of navigation . Polynesian navigation The Polynesian nav
- geodesyGeodesy also called geodetics is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three-dimensional time varying
Astronomy
NavigationThis article concerns navigation in the sense of determination of position and direction on the surface of the Earth. See Navigation (disambiguation) for other meanings. There are several traditions of navigation . Polynesian navigation The Polynesian nav
