"Brian Davis" wrote in message
...
On Oct 8, 4:42 pm, "Androcles" wrote:

You are way off base, old son.

If you mean "Brian was off base, and Crown-horned Snorkack was right
on", you're correct. There's a big difference between the forced and
the free libration of the Moon, and yes, the free libration is due to
inconstant rotation of the Moon.

Imagine if you can the Moon having a highly eccentric orbit, very long
in the major axis and very short in the minor axis... what face do you
see when it is crossing the minor axis?

That's the forced libration. This sub-thread is about the free
libration (and, occasionally, my bad spelling).

--
Brian Davis


Ah, you must be writing from
rec.arts.sf.science, a science fiction and arts newsgroup.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070902.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libration

Modelled:
http://www.androcles01.pwp.blueyonde.../Libration.htm

There is no "forced libration", any change in the Moon's orbit is
precession and will not be noticeable for thousands of years.
Libration is noticeable in a month.

Please don't cross-post your nonsense to sci.astro, which is a
science newsgroup.