Monthly Lunar Standstills 18.6 Year Graph of Declination Range

[@ArchaeoastronomyDatabase]

Lunar Standstill Observation Help PORTAL: www.exploreglobe.net/major-lunar-standstill.html

[@iyoutome]

wow brother... that is extremely valuable data... Love the way you think... Your passion, and talent is so appreciated... ❤🙏

[@RahmaAlfarsy]

Thank you for your work!

[@ArchaeoastronomyDatabase]

You are welcome! It is nice to know the work is appreciated.

[@aaron22372]

This is fascinating. I didn't anticipate the "waviness." What causes those minor fluctuations in the distances between the northern and southern extremes?

[@ArchaeoastronomyDatabase]

Thanks for the great question! That is one of the last pieces of the puzzle! The fluctuations are quite small and for most of my purposes I just take the data as is, but the nagging question of why still keeps me searching. The best I have tracked down so far is figure 4-10 here: eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/moonorbit.html It has a text explanation a bit above the diagram. From what I understand, the extra inclination of the lunar orbit varies from 5.0 to 5.3 degrees, being at the greatest when the nodes of the lunar orbit are at 0 and 180 degrees relative to the sun. Since eclipses occur at the nodes they are always happening when the inclination is at its greatest. During Major and Minor Lunar standstills eclipses occur near the equinoxes so that is when the additive or subtractive maximum 5.3 degrees come into play while at the solstices it is only +-5.0 degrees. This link goes to a chart for Major Lunar Standstill where you can see that the standstills around the equinoxes are greatest and at those near the solstices are the smallest: www.exploreglobe.net/major-lunar-standstill.html Just typing this out has brought me that much closer to understanding more of the pattern, so I thank you for your excellent question once more! As for the finer gravitational/orbital mechanics that cause the Moon to oscillate through slightly different points in space that we call nodes each time it swings around the Earth, well, there is always more to be learned.

[@aaron22372]

@@ArchaeoastronomyDatabase This is amazing. Thank you so much. I will definitely enjoy trying to wrap my mind around it all.

[@asleepyplatipus]

I don't really know what I'm looking at

[@ArchaeoastronomyDatabase]

This video was a bit experimental. Are you familiar with lunar standstills? This video might help provide some background: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZ6WdJt-rraqgc0

[@asleepyplatipus]

@@ArchaeoastronomyDatabase I'll check it out