Kozai-Lidov cycles

[knocker]

 

Given that I wouldn’t mind a break from the climate wars (although I don’t think I’m quite as cured as Stoat suggests he is), I thought I might write about something completely different. From 1958-1976, the Soviet Union had a fairly extensive Lunar programme. One of these missions, Luna-3, was the first to take a picture of the far side of the Moon (Note : not The Dark Side of the Moon). This particular satellite had a highly eccentric (elliptical) geocentric orbit and, after 11 orbits, is thought to have re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, and burned up.

 

https://andthentheresphysics.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/kozai-lidov-cycles/