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A real or apparent slow oscillation of a moon or satellite
Answer for the clue "A real or apparent slow oscillation of a moon or satellite ", 9 letters:
libration
Word definitions for libration in dictionaries
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Libration (from the Latin verb librare "to balance, to sway"; cf. libra "scales") is a type of reciprocating motion in which an object with a nearly fixed orientation repeatedly rotates slightly back and forth. In physics and chemistry , a molecule (or ...
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. (astronomy) a real or apparent slow oscillation of a moon or satellite; "the libration of the moon"
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Libration \Li*bra"tion\ (l[-i]*br[=a]"sh[u^]n), n. [L. libratio: cf. F. libration.] The act or state of librating. --Jer. Taylor. (Astron.) A real or apparent libratory motion, like that of a balance before coming to rest. Libration of the moon , any one ...
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 The act of librate. 2 (context astronomy English) The apparent wobble or variation in the visible side of the Moon that permanently faces the Earth, allowing observers on Earth to see, over a period of time, slightly more than half of the lunar surface. ...
Usage examples of libration.
Even taking libration into account, fully three-eighths of its surface is true dark-side and never sees the sun.
It does wobble about its mean position a bit as a result of libration, but not by anything near that much.
Far to the west the libration of the planet thrust a wall of cold air into the tropic heat of the sun.
You know the breeding ceremonies take place when libration has brought the temple into the sunlight.
It was located at the L5 libration point, a location where the gravitational forces of the Earth and Moon cancelled each other out.
A somewhat more spacious colony, Descartes, had been built at the L4 libration point 240,000 miles ahead of the moon.
The colonies had been made primarily of materials mined on the moon and transported to the libration points.
Or, belike, when they feel like a bit of amorous libration, they can do it perfectly well in their own persons without employing mortals as surrogates.
Even taking libration into account, fully three-eights of its surface is true dark-side and never sees the Sun.
Mercury, then using a gravity assist, and the extra force light sails get close to the sun, to send the ship upward on a close pass by either the other libration point or the Earth, with enough momentum to continue on up into the farther reaches of the solar system.
Soviets believe their site is just beyond the libration limit in the Cordillera chain.
During the gloaming time when he had only one eye with which to observe the heavens or peruse his earlier notes and drawings, he wrote a final brief treatise on how best to gauge the diameters of stars and the distances between celestial bodies, and also made his last astronomical discovery, regarding the librations, or rocking, of the Moon.
Without the computer to plot paths, or do librations the way things stood at present.
During the gloaming time when he had only one eye with which to observe the heavens or peruse his earlier notes and drawings, he wrote a final brief treatise on how best to gauge the diameters of stars and the distances between celestial bodies, and also made his last astronomical discovery, regarding the librations, or rocking, of the Moon.
Actually, we'll have a few hours before they drift far enough to destroy the effect, but we'll need all that time because we need to fire the engines at full power to force the tidal bulge past the libration point.