Astronomy Asked by John Greene on January 3, 2021
Are there any citation or documentation showing the measured degradation of the Moon’s equatorial rotation velocity (thus affecting its moon’s axial rotation)?
I am looking for the drift of the Moon’s axis rotational speed, presumably over 10,000 years or more.
Since the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth, it rotates with the same orbital period as it orbits the Earth. Thus, tracking the Moon's rotational velocity is essentially the same thing as measuring the changes in its orbit - if you know one, then you know the other.
The recession of the Moon has been measured using laser ranging (see links in the answer to this question) to be about 3.8 cm / year. From that rate of change of orbital semimajor axis, you could use Kepler's third law to work out a rate of change of the Moon's orbital period, and thus of its rotational period.
Correct answer by ELNJ on January 3, 2021
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