Earth observations from the Moon's surface: dependence on lunarlibration

Observing the Earth from the Moon's surface has important scientific advantages. The angular diameter of the Earth as seen from the Moon's surface is 1.8-2.0 degrees (the angu-lar size varies due to the change in the Earth-Moon distance). The libration of the Moon in latitude reaches an amplitude of 6.68 degrees and has a main period of 27.21 d (or 653.1 h). The libra-tion of the Moon in longitude, reaching an amplitude of 7.9 degrees, has a period of 27.55 d (or 661.3 h). This causes the center of the Earth to move in the Moon's sky in a rectangle measur-ing 13.4 degrees x 15.8 degrees. The trajectory of the Earth's motion in this rectangle changes its shape within a period of 6 years. This apparent librational movement of the Earth in the Moon's sky complicates observations of the Earth. This paper proposes that this disadvantage be turned into an advantage and that a multi-slit spectrometer be placed on the Moon's surface on a fixed platform. The libration motion and the daily rotation of the Earth will act as a natural replacement for the scanning mechanism.

Automated summary

Observing the Earth from the Moon's surface has important scientific advantages, as the Earth's angular diameter is 1.8-2.0 degrees from the Moon and the Moon's libration motion causes the position of the Earth to change in the lunar sky. This paper proposes using the Earth's natural motion as a replacement for scanning mechanism by placing a multi-slit spectrometer on the Moon's surface.