What is "evection"

Evection \E*vec"tion\ [L. evectio a going up, fr. evehere to carry out; e out + vehere to carry: cf. F ['e]vection.]

1. The act of carrying up or away; exaltation. [Obs.]
   --Bp. Pearson.

2. (Astron.)

   1. An inequality of the moon's motion in its orbit, due to the attraction of the sun, by which the equation of the center is diminished at the syzygies, and increased at the quadratures by about 1[deg] 20'.

   2. The libration of the moon.
      --Whewell.

1650s, literal, from Late Latin evectionem (nominative evectio) "a carrying upward, a flight," from Latin evehere, from assimilated form of ex- "upwards" (see ex-) + vehere "to carry" (see vehicle). Astronomy sense is from 1706.

n. (context astronomy English) modification of the lunar orbit due to the gravitational effects of the Sun.

Evection (Latin for carrying away), in astronomy, is the largest inequality produced by the action of the Sun in the monthly revolution of the Moon around the Earth. The evection, formerly called the moon's second anomaly, was approximately known in ancient times, and its discovery is attributed to Ptolemy. (The current name itself dates much more recently, from the 17th century: it was coined by Bullialdus in connection with his own (unsuccessful) theory of the Moon's motion.)

Evection causes the Moon's ecliptic longitude to vary by approximately ± 1.274° ( degrees), with a period of about 31.8 days. The evection in longitude is given by the expression  + 4586.45ʺsin(2D − l), where D is the (mean) elongation, i.e. mean angular distance of the Moon from the Sun, and l is the moon's mean anomaly, i.e. mean angular distance of the moon from its perigee.

It can be considered as arising from an approximately 6-monthly periodic variation of the eccentricity of the Moon's orbit and a libration of similar period in the position of the Moon's perigee, caused by the action of the Sun.

The evection can be considered as opposing the Moon's equation of the center at the new and full moons, and augmenting the equation of the center at the Moon's quarters. This can be seen from the combination of the principal term of the equation of the center with the evection:  + 22639.55ʺsin(l) + 4586.45ʺsin(2D − l) .

At new and full moons, D=0° or 180°, 2D is effectively zero in either case, and the combined expression reduces to  + (22639.55 − 4586.45)ʺsin(l) .

At the quarters, D=90° or 270°, 2D is effectively 180° in either case, changing the sign of the expression for the evection, so that the combined expression reduces now to  + (22639.55 + 4586.45)ʺsin(l) .