secular acceleration

secular acceleration

The apparent speeding up of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth, caused by tidal friction and the gravitational attraction of other planets. It amounts to 10.3 arc seconds per century. It first became apparent from records of ancient eclipses.

secular acceleration

[′sek·yə·lər ak‚sel·ə′rā·shən] (astronomy) An apparent gradual acceleration of the moon's motion in its orbit, as measured relative to mean solar time.