Friday 29 September 2017

orbital motion - Why do "mascons" perturb orbits?


If the moon is a rigid body, why do the mass concentrations on the moon make orbits unstable? Doesn't a satellite just orbit the center of mass of it's parent body?


Satellites (e.g. GRACE) seem to be able to measure these things by perturbations in their orbit but I'm not sure how or why. What oversimplification am I making?




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