Experience with the dynamics and data analyses for Earth and Moon reveals both similarities and differences. Analysis of Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data provides information on the lunar orbit, rotation, solid-body tides, and retroreflector locations. Lunar rotational variations have strong sensitivity to moments of inertia and gravity field while weaker variations, including tidal variations, g...

Thanks to Doris Wagner for help with the documentation. Also thanks to: Julien Cubizolles.

From flat Earth, to round Earth, to a rough and oblate Earth, people's understanding of the shape of our planet and its landscapes has changed dramatically over the course of history. These advances in geodesy— the study of Earth's size, shape, orientation, and gravitational field, and the variations of these quantities over time—developed because of humans' curiosity about the Earth and becaus...