Features of the Fossil Tidal Bulge Formation for the Early Moon

Abstract

The limitations imposed on the orbit and the distribution of the density of the early Moon by present-day measurements of its fossil tidal bulge are studied. A semi-analytical method has been developed for calculating gravitational potentials, which makes it possible to investigate the equipotential surfaces of a self-gravitating inhomogeneous mass in an external field. Universal expressions are obtained for the two-layer mantle–crust model of the early Moon, which makes it possible to make general estimates of the density of the upper crust and semiaxes of its orbit in the case of tidal capture by the Earth.