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Frame Dragging by Earth Reconfirmed

Posted by samzenpus on from the lets-do-the-time-warp-again dept.

smooth wombat writes "After 11 years of watching the movements of two Earth-orbiting satellites, researchers found each is dragged by about 6 feet (2 meters) every year because the very fabric of space is twisted by our whirling world. The results, announced today, are much more precise than preliminary findings published by the same group in the late 1990s. The researchers say their result is 99 percent of the predicted drag, with an error of up to 10 percent. The details are reported in the Oct. 21 issue of the journal Nature."

5 of 379 comments (clear)

  1. Don't Get TOO Excited by the_mad_poster · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hmmm... I read this earlier because CNN jumped on it, but there are questions (noted in the Nature article) about its actual accuracy. There's some concern that the original gravity field maps that this method used weren't accurate enough.

    This is a good step forward, but I think until we call the frame dragging prediction confirmed we should wait to see what Gravity Probe B comes up with.

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  2. Re:Isn't that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yes, the project is called Gravity Probe B, launched in mid-April 2004.


    -HJ

  3. No, you're wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're thinking of NASA's Gravity Probe B. That one isn't finished yet.

  4. More Info on twisting Space by alaivfc · · Score: 5, Informative

    This idea of this drag was originally proposed by Einstein. Almost fifty years ago, the idea of how to experimentally verify this effect was proposed; however, it required the launch of a very accurate gyroscope. That gyroscope, which is the center-piece of the longest running NASA project ever, was just recently launched into space. More info about it (Gravity Probe-B) and a good description of this drag can be found at http://einstein.stanford.edu. Yes, the article is describing a different project than GP-B; however, it references the skeptism that the folks at GP-B have expressed at this latest experiment, and the GP-B folks are considered the experts in the field. Check out their site, it's fascinating.

  5. Re:Isn't that... by nerdguy569 · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, this is different, Gravity Probe B is a separate project, this was an Italian research group who used freely avaliable data from the past 11 years of the two LAGEOS satelites, who's orbital paths have been monitored for that time. Space.com has a good summary, and so does New Scientist

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