Posted on 09/27/2004 11:38:32 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
I don't know whether we have a good estimate of the magnetic field out there. If my explanation is correct, it may turn out that it was rejected early on because of mistaken assumptions about the size of the magnetic field and the net charge on the probes.
This seems to be inherently an unlikely possibility. Wouldn't any such deviation or curvature from its path be a great deal easier to detect than its Doppler shift?
What about an uncalculated effect of cold gas mass on slowing the craft gravitaionally?(As for example, a rather depleted "solar wind"?)
That would seem to make the gravity field a little more steep as it went.
There's no way to measure the transverse velocity except by tracking its azimuthal displacement, but that can't be measured very precisely. Maybe RadioAstronomer can give us an idea of how accurately we can place a probe at that distance on the celestial sphere, based only on its signal.
What about an uncalculated effect of cold gas mass on slowing the craft gravitaionally?(As for example, a rather depleted "solar wind"?)
The solar wind travels outwards at a pretty good clip until it reaches the heliopause, so for (at least) most of the probe's journey, it would be pushing the probe in the wrong direction to account for the anomaly. As for a cold molecular cloud, I think that's ruled out because any cloud dense enough to account for the anomaly would have an obvious absorption spectrum on the light of remote stars. Not only that, but I believe that a couple of the probes measure the local radiation directly; they'd see the cloud particles.
I'm a big believer in the "stopped clock" hypothesis when it comes to cranks.
Another beautiful theory, spoilt by an ugly fact. :-)
Those with poor reading comprehension should note that they've just replied to a two year old thread. So don't write in, okay? ;')
But to FairOpinion, here's not one but two 2004 topics, related to each other, and you can write me any time (':
Gravitational anomalies: An invisible hand?
From The Economist print edition | Aug 19th 2004
Posted on 08/21/2004 4:31:57 AM EDT by ScuzzyTerminator
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1196132/posts
They are especially strong near Uranus.
from 2004.
Comet's course hints at mystery planet [ from 2001 ]
Govert Schilling | last updated February 5th, 2002 | Govert Schilling
Posted on 08/18/2006 5:36:59 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1686125/posts
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