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Science 12 October 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5848, p. 244
DOI: 10.1126/science.1146984
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Brevia

Excitation of Lunar Eccentricity by Planetary Resonances

Matija Cuk

The origin of the Moon's nonnegligible orbital eccentricity of 0.053 has no theoretical explanation. Lunar laser ranging indicates that tides on Earth are currently increasing the Moon's eccentricity. However, ocean tides were likely much weaker during the first billion years, allowing lunar tides to damp any primordial lunar eccentricity very early on. During the tidally driven expansion of its orbit, the Moon must have been affected by two substantial resonances related to Jupiter and Venus, passage through which may have generated today's lunar eccentricity.

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)