Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: PatrickHenry
As I say on all of these threads, I think there is a conventional physics explanation for the anomaly.

For one thing, there almost can't be anything wrong with gravity. Any gravitational effect large enough to explain the anomaly would noticeably affect the ephemerises of the outer planets. Yes, it is mathematically possible to dream up some function whereby the probes are affected but Pluto and Neptune are not, but that's awfully contrived and poorly motivated.

My expectation is that the probes have acquired a significant electrical charge during their journey. This causes their trajectories to bend slightly as the probes pass through the sun's magnetic field (to say nothing of the local galactic magnetic field). This bending causes the probe to acquire a momentum component that is transverse to its direction of travel, but because its total momentum is roughly constant, its momentum along our line of sight (which is what the Doppler shift measures) is necessarily reduced. We have no way to measure the transverse momentum component.

If this idea has been rejected, I'd like to see a quantitative reason.

26 posted on 09/27/2004 12:21:43 PM PDT by Physicist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: Physicist
If this idea has been rejected

Not that I know of. :-)

29 posted on 09/27/2004 12:40:16 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies ]

To: Physicist
My expectation is that the probes have acquired a significant electrical charge during their journey.

Now that I read your post, I recall that we've had a thread (or maybe two) on this topic before. But it's been at least a year. Anyway, kinks like this need to get worked out. Anomalies are where the action is.

30 posted on 09/27/2004 12:52:17 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (I'm PatrickHenry and I approve this message.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies ]

To: Physicist
As I say on all of these threads, I think there is a conventional physics explanation for the anomaly.

Since we are on the subject of gravitational anomalies, do you know of a good explanation of the Allais effect? Might the probe anomalies be a manifestation of whatever causes this other gravitational anomaly?

I hesitate to stray from conventional physics regarding gravitation for vaguely related theoretical reasons, but there are some strange chinks in the mathematical armor of conventional physics models at the quantum level that may be showing themselves. Maybe Gravity Probe B will shed some light on this, given the precision of its instruments.

31 posted on 09/27/2004 12:58:20 PM PDT by tortoise (All these moments lost in time, like tears in the rain.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies ]

To: Physicist
This bending causes the probe to acquire a momentum component that is transverse to its direction of travel, but because its total momentum is roughly constant, its momentum along our line of sight (which is what the Doppler shift measures) is necessarily reduced.

It'd take an accelerator jock to think of this. Kind of reminds me of GC/Mass Spec. Can we check the estimate of the charge by looking at curvature of the flight path, the mass, and the applied B field? (Wink, nudge)

39 posted on 09/27/2004 5:14:50 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson