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Researchers have confirmed two predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, concluding one of NASA's longest-running projects. The Gravity Probe B experiment used four ultra-precise gyroscopes housed in an Earth-orbiting satellite to measure two aspects of Einstein's theory about gravity. The first is the geodetic effect, or the warping of space and time around a gravitational body. The second is frame-dragging, which is the amount a spinning object pulls space and time with it as it rotates.
Gravity Probe-B determined both effects with unprecedented precision by pointing at a single star, IM Pegasi, while in a polar orbit around Earth. If gravity did not affect space and time, GP-B's gyroscopes would point in the same direction forever while in orbit. But in confirmation of Einstein's theories, the gyroscopes experienced measurable, minute changes in the direction of their spin, while Earth's gravity pulled at them.
The project as been in the works for 52 years.
The findings are online in the journal Physical Review Letters.
It's about time!
Originally posted by predator0187
The project as been in the works for 52 years.
I got the impression that Einstein expected someone to come along after him and do the same thing to his theory that he did to Newton's classical mechanics. That seemed to match observation for the most part too, except for a few little things that didn't add up like precession of Mercury. There are still a few things that don't add up right and it won't surprise me at all if we have to tweak Einstein's stuff the way he tweaked Newton's stuff...but that's not really the same as throwing it out. Newton's mechanics still works pretty well at non-relativistic speeds, and it did match observation, though it wasn't the complete answer. Observations seem to agree with Einstein's theory but it may not be the complete answer either.
I had to share this for all of the Einstein haters on this site. It seems as of lately people are trying very hard to disprove this man's ideas even though they come through in a lot of experiments.
I think rather than people going against Einstein, they should be working with his numbers and ideas. I am not saying not to think outside of the box, I am just saying if it has been proven and works, why fix it?
Einstein was right again. There is a space-time vortex around Earth, and its shape precisely matches the predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity.
The electrostatic patches also cause small torques on the gyroscopes, particularly when the space vehicle axis of symmetry is not aligned with the gyroscope spin axes. Torques cause the spin axes of the gyroscopes to change orientation, and in certain circumstances, this effect can look like the relativity signal GP-B measures. Fortunately, the drifts due to these torques have a precise geometrical relationship to the misalignment of the gyro spin/vehicle symmetry axis and can be removed from the data without directly affecting the relativity measurement.
Both of these discoveries first had to be investigated, precisely modeled and carefully checked against the experimental data before they could be removed as sources of error. These additional investigations have added more than a year to the data analysis, and this work is still in process. To date, the team has made very good progress in this regard, according to its independent Science Advisory Committee, chaired by relativistic physicist Clifford Will of Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., that has been monitoring every aspect of GP-B for the past decade.
Originally posted by You2Two2AreSpecial
Would I be wrong in saying that antimatter is/is a type of "frame dragging"?/?
Originally posted by ch0senbygrace
"Gravity Probe B Confirms Two of Einstein's Space-Time Theories" WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. God, evolutionists and atheists can you stop being arbitrary and gullible and believing whatever is claimed as evidence for evolution? Can you do that? Read it and blush and weep you simpleton anti-scientific myth-spreaders who lack the common sense to fact check: gravity.tk...