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Frank,
I would say that the lunar distance on an Easter can be anything, with equal probability.

Accroding to Wikipedia, the date of Easter is not determined anymore by strict
astronomical rules.

The original definition was the "first Sundday after the first full moon after the spring equinox".

But the ecclesiastical rules (as exlained in Wikipedia) the equinox must be counted on 21 of March,
and "full moon" is the 14th day after the new moon first visibility.

However this difference does not matter for my answer.

The moon phases wander over the solar year, so on any day of the solar year, say March 21
all moon phases are equally probable (in the long run). Because the periods of 
the Sun and Moon are "incommensurable"
for all practical purposes.

From this follows that all distances are equally probable, if you average over a very long period.
I suppose that the 2000 years or so is a sufficiently long period.

Alex. 

  
________________________________________
From: NavList@fer3.com [NavList@fer3.com] on behalf of Frank Reed [NoReply_FrankReed@fer3.com]
Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 12:28 PM
To: eremenko@math.purdue.edu
Subject: [NavList] Lunar distance this Sunday

This Sunday, April 16, at Greenwich noon, the Moon will be about 122� from the 
Sun. This got me thinking... what is the average lunar distance (elongation 
of the Moon from Sun) on Easter? The image below will explain why this is on 
my mind.

Frank Reed


Attached File:
[http://fer3.com/arc/imgx/sundials.jpg.thumb.jpg]
[http://fer3.com/arc/images/dl-icon.png]

   

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