The Unfinished Quest to Solve the Pioneer Anomaly (unknown gravitational effect)

The Planetary Society ^ | 11 May 05 | John D. Anderson, Philip A. Laing, Eunice L. Lau, Michael Martin Nieto, and Slava G. Turyshev

[Arkie2]

This is a long read but if you're a space nerd it's very interesting. I decided not to post the entire article so you'll have to check the link if you want to read the whole thing.

[Arkie2]

ping

[ELS]

Bump for later reading

[camle]

whatever happenned to the new planet, selena, or something like that?

[Red Badger]

Gaseous anomolies in the neutral zone?........

[mwyounce]

interesting read... thanks!

[Nowhere Man]

Bump

[djf]

I remember when the shuttle disintegrated and the techies kept saying the guages went "off scale low".

Now they say "unexplained acceleration backward".

So is it too far away or too close?

[kAcknor]

OK, I missed something. Or is this just the way scientics speak?

If an object, travling out of the solar system displays "an anomalous acceleration toward the Sun" does it really mean it's unexpectedly SLOWING?

Also, would not the unexplained motions in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune coupled with this slowing provide three points of reference?

If a single phenomona could explain all three that might just be considered a clue...

[MeanWestTexan]

"If an object, travling out of the solar system displays "an anomalous acceleration toward the Sun" does it really mean it's unexpectedly SLOWING?"

That was my read, too.

I blame Xenu and his invading force of aliens in DC-10s.

[laishly]

Bump for later.

[martin gibson]

its them lousy reptilians AGAIN!!

[Flightdeck]

I'm not surprised there's an anomaly, considering nobody's figured gravity out yet.

[KillTime]

whatever happenned to the new planet, selena, or something like that?

That's what I want to know, too. It was named "Sedna". Don't they consider the 10th planet now or is that just a maybe planet? They also found another object beyond Pluto that is about half the size of Pluto and named it "Quaoar". Either of these planet X candidates?

[kAcknor]

I blame Xenu and his invading force of aliens in DC-10s

I heard there was fierce competition between Airbus and Boeing for that account... ;)

[camle]

are you sure it ain't "Quagaar"?

[DoctorMichael]

Interesting article. I particularly enjoyed the exposition of the way the astrophysicists are handling the data (ie. asking the questions as to whether either this anomaly violates any OTHER accepted pardigms or can be explained by them) rather than invoking some really far-out explanation that violates every presently known paradigm in many far-flung fields of inquiry.

Very instructive as to how scientists work.

See The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Kuhn.

[CPOSharky]

We live inside a large refelective sphere. Everything you see is a reflection and it is impossible to get out of the sphere. [sillyness off]

[Erasmus]

I think you're right. Our universe is just a mirror ball in a birdbath in the garden of some superior being.

[blowfish]

I think you're right. Our universe is just a mirror ball in a birdbath in the garden of some superior being. No we're just guinea pigs on the treadmill of the Intelligent Designer. And remember, gravity is just a theory!