Measurement of the de Sitter precession of the Moon: A relativistic three-body effect

Shapiro, I. I.; Reasenberg, R. D.; Chandler, J. F.; Babcock, R. W.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.61.2643

Cited by 88 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Although these are two independent effects in the sense that the latter requires rotation of the source of the gravitational field, it can be shown that in an appropriately chosen coordinate system [17], geodetic precession can be considered as due to a Lense-Thirring drag. A combined observable phenomenon of these two effects [18] occurs in the Earth-Moon system around the Sun through the precession of the Moon's perigee, which is detected by measuring the lunar orbit using laser ranging between stations on Earth and reflectors on the Moon's surface [19][20][21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gravitomagnetic effects in conformal gravity

2013

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Gravitomagnetic effects are characterized by two phenomena: first, the geodetic effect which describes the precession of the spin of a gyroscope in a free orbit around a massive object, second, the Lense-Thirring effect which describes the precession of the orbital plane about a rotating source mass. We calculate both these effects in the fourth-order theory of conformal Weyl gravity for the test case of circular orbits. We show that for the geodetic effect a linear term arises which may be interesting for high radial orbits, whereas for the Lense-Thirring effect the additional term has a diminishing effect for most orbits. Circular orbits are also considered in general leading up to a generalization of Kepler's third law.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gravitomagnetic effects in conformal gravity

2013

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“…PEP was designed not only to generate ephemerides of the Planets and Moon, but also to compare model with observations. One of the early uses of this software was the first measurement of the geodetic precession of the Moon [12]. The PEP software has enabled constraints on deviations from standard GR physics.…”

Section: Analysis Of Lunar Laser Ranging Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since 1969 LLR has supplied a lot of tests of General Relativity (GR): it has evaluated the Geodetic Precession [12], probed the weak and strong equivalence principle, determined the Parametrized Post Newtonian (PPN) parameter β and γ, addressed the time change of the gravitational constant (G) and 1/r 2 deviations. LLR has also provided important information on the composition and origin of the Moon through measurement of its rotations and tides.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moonlight: A New Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector and the Lunar Geodetic Precession

et al. 2013

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Abstract. Since the 1970s Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) to the Apollo Cube Corner Retroreflector (CCR) arrays (developed by the University of Maryland, UMD) supplied almost all significant tests of General Relativity (Alley et al., 1970;Chang et al., 1971;Bender et al.,1973): possible changes in the gravitational constant, gravitational self-energy, weak equivalence principle, geodetic precession, inverse-square force-law. The LNF group, in fact, has just completed a new measurement of the lunar geodetic precession with Apollo array, with accuracy of 9 × 10 −3 , comparable to the best measurement to date. LLR has also provided significant information on the composition and origin of the moon. This is the only Apollo experiment still in operation. In the 1970s Apollo LLR arrays contributed a negligible fraction of the ranging error budget. Since the ranging capabilities of ground stations improved by more than two orders of magnitude, now, because of the lunar librations, Apollo CCR arrays dominate the error budget. With the project MoonLIGHT (Moon Laser Instrumentation for General relativity High-accuracy Tests), in 2006 INFN-LNF joined UMD in the development and test of a new-generation LLR payload made by a single, large CCR (100 mm diameter) unaffected by the effect of librations. With MoonLIGHT CCRs the accuracy of the measurement of the lunar geodetic precession can be improved up to a factor 100 compared to Apollo arrays. From a technological point of view, INFN-LNF built and is operating a new experimental apparatus (Satellite/lunar laser ranging Characterization Facility, SCF) and created a new industry-standard test procedure (SCF-Test) to characterize and model the detailed thermal behavior and the optical performance of CCRs in accurately laboratory-simulated space conditions, for industrial and scientific applications. Our key experimental innovation is the concurrent measurement and modeling of the optical Far Field Diffraction Pattern (FFDP) and the temperature distribution of retroreflector payloads under thermal conditions produced with a close-match solar simulator. The apparatus includes infrared cameras for non-invasive thermometry, thermal control and real-time payload movement to simulate satellite orientation on orbit with respect to solar illumination and laser interrogation beams. These capabilities provide: unique pre-launch performance validation of the space segment of LLR/SLR (Satellite Laser Ranging); retroreflector design optimization to maximize ranging efficiency and signal-to-noise conditions in daylight. Results of the SCF-Test of our CCR payload will be presented. Negotiations are underway to propose our payload and SCF-Test services for precision gravity and lunar science measurements with next robotic lunar landing missions. In particular, a scientific collaboration agreement was signed on Jan. 30, 2012, by D. Currie, S. Dell'Agnello and the Japanese PI team of the LLR instrument of the proposed SELENE-2 mission by JAXA (Registered with INFN Protocol n. 0000242-03/Feb/2012). The ...

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“…h would equal zero if it were consistent with general relativity and unity if there were 100% difference from the prediction. From the set of 4 400 echo measurements, their analysis resulted in h = 0.019 ± 0.010 (Shapiro et al, 1988).…”

Section: Geodetic Precessionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This effect is referred to as geodetic precession. Shapiro et al (1988) mined the lunar laser ranging data collected over the period 1970-1986 from the retroreflectors on the Moon. A model of the Moon's motion consisted of two coupled sets of differential equations, one for its orbit and the other for its rotation.…”

Section: Geodetic Precessionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent astronomical tests of general relativity

Treschman¹

2015

Int. J. Phys. Sci.

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Measurement of the de Sitter precession of the Moon: A relativistic three-body effect

Cited by 88 publications

References 6 publications

Gravitomagnetic effects in conformal gravity

Gravitomagnetic effects in conformal gravity

Moonlight: A New Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector and the Lunar Geodetic Precession

Recent astronomical tests of general relativity

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