Russian Journal of Earth Sciences
Vol 1, No. 1, July 1998
On the effects of the inertia ellipsoid triaxiality in the theory
of nutation
S. M. Molodensky
Abstract
Modern nutation theories of the Earth and planets use the assumption, that the planet’s
inertia
ellipsoid is symmetrical about the axes of rotation. Below we estimate the effects
of the inertia
ellipsoid triaxiality accurate to
((B-A)/(C-A))4, where
A, B, C are equatorial and polar principal
moments of inertia, respectively.