The Pioneer Anomaly |
The Pioneer Anomaly |
Aug 16 2005, 04:27 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/pioneer_anomaly_faq.html
The planetary society may be checking it out... QUOTE The Planetary Society has committed to raise the funds to preserve the priceless Pioneer data from destruction.
After years of analysis, but without a final conclusion, NASA, astonishingly, gave up trying to solve the "Pioneer Anomaly" and provided no funds to analyze the data. The Pioneer data exists on a few hundred ancient 7- and 9-track magnetic tapes, which can only be read on "antique" outdated computers. The agency is going to scrap, literally demolish, the only computers able to access and process that data in the next few months! |
|
|
Jan 12 2006, 12:21 AM
Post
#2
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 477 Joined: 2-March 05 Member No.: 180 |
QUOTE I should point out, however, that MOND was always a phenomenological theory, and its predictions using visible matter would closely match the predictions using GR. In other words, MOND was describing the effects of GR on galaxies, without realising it! Something else, with modeling something like a galaxy, and failing to take general relativity into account - with a few billion individual stars to model, and if Newtonian physics introduces a tiny amount of error with each star in the model, those small deviations will really compound each other. Each star interacts with others, and if those interactions themselves are in error because of initial errors, etc etc etc - billions of tiny errors add up to one big problem. It sort of surprised me when I read about this, like "well yeah, duh, general relativity. Why aren't you using it already?" I just think it makes sense, now that we have a theory of relativity, that we actually use it, rather than invent a kind of matter that we just can't directly observe in any fashion. Relevant image. (I can't take credit, I just found it online somewhere awhile ago.) But really, we can't disprove dark matter. Star Trek Voyager proved that it existed when they encountered a dark matter asteroid. |
|
|
Jan 12 2006, 03:56 AM
Post
#3
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 624 Joined: 10-August 05 Member No.: 460 |
QUOTE (Jeff7 @ Jan 11 2006, 05:21 PM) It sort of surprised me when I read about this, like "well yeah, duh, general relativity. Why aren't you using it already?" I just think it makes sense, now that we have a theory of relativity, that we actually use it, rather than invent a kind of matter that we just can't directly observe in any fashion. Relevant image. (I can't take credit, I just found it online somewhere awhile ago.) Three problems with using GR to account for missing galactic mass: 1) GR theoriest did not predict the missing mass - tweaking GR parameters so that they effectively model overaggressive rotational velocities is just curve fitting. 2) Dark matter and energy are needed to literally fill the gaps in the Cosmic Microwave Background. Without dark matter, the CMB power function falls why short of BB model expectations. 3) No gravity waves. Unless and until GWs are detected, all the curve fitting in the world cannot solidify relativistic theory. To date, it can reasonably be argued that we have lacked the needed sensitivity, but this is no longer true. The constraints are such that if LIGO does not detect anything in the next half decade, we are looking down the barrel of another Michelson Morley null. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 21st September 2024 - 09:52 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |