Question

Apollo astronauts left seismometers on the moon that radioed seismic data back to earth. the data showed that moonquakes occur more frequently when the moon is at perigee (closest to earth) than at other locations along its orbit. give an explanation for this finding.

Answer 1

Moonquakes are affected by the gravitational pull of the earth. When the earth is closer to the moon the gravitational forces are stronger and thus will account for the greater frequency of moonquakes when the moon is at perigee.