Pioneer Spacecraft |
The difference between how fast Pioneer 11 is going and how fast they think it should be going is about:
8 x 10^{-8} cm/s^2
which is the same as eight hundred picometers per second squared. (A picometer is one trillionth of a meter. Pretty stinking small.) "Per second squared" means this is a change in velocity, or acceleration. This works out to be about two centimeters per second per year (2 cm/s per year), BACK TOWARD THE SUN, so it is slowing down, or decelerating. Pioneers velocity when we last heard from it (1995) was 11.6 km/s.
- 11.6 km/s is 11,600 m/s.
- 2 centimeters is 0.02 meters.
- 11,600 meters divided by .02 meters is 580,000
Update September 2016 replaced missing picture.
That's not the point. The point is that it is NOT gravity which is causing the picoscopic acceleration! Unless general relativity is wrong!!
ReplyDeleteEither way, we need an explanation.
FWIW. the word verification is asking me type in 'nuffen' ;-)