On the precession and nutation of the Earth's axis of figure

Abstract

The equations of motion of the rigid earth about its center of mass are developed by the methods of vectorial mechanics and compared with the classical formulation given by Woolard. It is shown that apparent discrepancies in the coefficients of the Oppolzer terms in the motion of the axis of figure between values listed by Woolard and those recently published by Kinoshita, can largely be accounted for by approximations introduced by Woolard in his integration procedure. In particular the apparent difference between the precessions of the axis of figure and the angular-momentum vector is shown to be spurious.