Space: It's a Weird Place

[the_gneech]

Telegraph UK: Mysterious force holds back Nasa probe in deep space

Researchers say Pioneer 10, which took the first close-up pictures of Jupiter before leaving our solar system in 1983, is being pulled back to the sun by an unknown force. The effect shows no sign of getting weaker as the spacecraft travels deeper into space, and scientists are considering the possibility that the probe has revealed a new force of nature.

Another reason why the aliens ain't showed up: the universe pushes back if you try to leave home!

-The Gneech

Comments

[radbaron.livejournal.com]

Vogons.

[rhanlav.livejournal.com]

"Obviously the political system sucks so badly, it's now creating it's own gravitational field... HEEEEY-OOOOOO!!!!"

"We'll be here all week." "Try the fish."

That is pretty cool though.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Hey, you were the guy who tried to sell me on space hyenas!

-TG

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

We live in some strange bubble, as though we were sea monkeys, but more advanced. And we don't eat each other like triops. That's gotta be it.

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

The rest of the universe, upon witnessing our TV transmissions a few decades back, have put us in a gravity bubble in order to keep us from breaking out, for our own protection and theirs.

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

Sirfox beat me to the concept I had. He was also a bit more gentle. Bottom line is until we prove ourselves worthy of joining the galactic community the fence stays up.

And folk, we've got a long long way to go.

[winterknight01.livejournal.com]

Alderson Force.

[tehrasha.livejournal.com]

Its proof that Earth sucks.

Meanwhile... space is about to get a whole lot cooler!

[keross.livejournal.com]

I so want to see this. Preferably subtitled.

[radbaron.livejournal.com]

Did you get this from Io9? I preferred the "original series music overdub" trailer better than listen to Steve Perry wailing. No wonder his guitarist keeps pushing him off the stage.

I'm not going to say I'm skeptical,

[keross.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to say I'm skeptical, but I would like to see something that didn't point back to the Telegraph article. I note there are no links to anything "offical" in the piece. Also, I can find nothing on SpaceRef or NASA watch. Can anyone else find anything?

Re: I'm not going to say I'm skeptical,

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_effect ...Wiki article, for what it's worth.

-TG

Re: I'm not going to say I'm skeptical,

[keross.livejournal.com]

Ah ha. That's more like it. While I trust Wiki only a bit more than I trust the nightly news, it did have a link to a more reputable source. Turns out this is several years old.

Danke.

[goodluckfox.livejournal.com]

I think this is only happening with spin-stabilized craft. It's not showing up on on non-spin stabilized probes.

[javarod.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this'll teach us something about gravity. Last i heard we really don't know much about why gravity works, just that it does, and it does so reliably. Perhaps gravity has something to do with an attraction between Earth and materials taken from the Earth?

[mtext.livejournal.com]

This kind of looks like a repeat of that Time magazine article that got reposted all over the place and everyone got into a tizzy about awhile back, about the atheists who were forbidden to adopt by some judge... and everyone just assumed it was current, but then a few folks started to notice that the date on the article was from the early 1970's.

Hooray for permanently-accessible article archives, but people need to start checking dates more! For some variety, since everyone is linking to that same 8-year-old Telegraph article, here's a more informal take on it (http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/pondering-the-p.html) from 2007 putting it into perspective. (Takeaway line: "One thing this deceleration can tell us for sure: don't try to rip a scientist off over small change.") Also there's a longstanding website devoted to the phenomenon (http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/pioneer_anomaly/). Plus your wiki link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_anomaly) of course.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Well, it was the first I'd heard of it, anyway. :)

-TG

[mtext.livejournal.com]

No worries, me too. And judging by the Google results, apparently lots of other people as well! :)

[mtext.livejournal.com]

I should say, your journal here was the first I'd heard of it. ;) I wonder who sparked the general revival in the first place...