Quote:
On 2002-03-13 11:11, Silas wrote:
Does it just slow down to a complete halt, or is there a period of nutation, rocking forward and backward, perhaps as the earth tugs at some largish gravitational unevenness somewhere in the moon's crust?
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Are you familiar with lunar libration? The moon still does not maintain an absolutely constant orientation with respect to the Earth. Its rotation is nearly constant, but its orbit is not circular--so it moves faster in some parts of orbit, and the rotation cannot compensate.