Libration refers to the movement of orbiting bodies in relation to one another. For instance, the movement of the Moon Relative to the Earth is an example of a Libration. One of the common examples of Libration is Lunar libration. The moon consists of a singular hemisphere, which faces the earth. Over time more of the Moon’s surface more than 50 percent of the surface of the Moon has started to be visible to the earth because of Libration. In the early 60s only a portion of the moon was visible.
Libration started by a to and fro movement of the Moon as perceived from the Earth. This has caused the observers from the Earth to be able to see the many parts of the surface of the Moon at various times of the day. There consist three main types of lunar libration.
- Longitude libration- This happens because of the eccentricity of the Moon’s orbiting around the earth.
- Latitude libration- This happens fro a slight inclining of the Moon’s axis.
- Diurnal libration- This refers to the oscillation because of the rotating earth.
So therefore, Libration causes the Moon to be seen at different angles due to its orbit with respect to the Earth.