There's been a lot of Nightfall stories lately where authors have had to deal with a bit of science. All have done well. I thought I would show you that science always reveals surprises by the e-mail I just received.
I have great news. Thanks to you and your fellow Planetary Society Members the Pioneer Anomaly is solved!
It's been a long and winding road, but Slava Turyshev and his colleagues have just explained the anomaly causing the unexpected slowing of the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. It's due to anisotropic thermal radiation, that is, when the spacecraft emits more heat in one direction than the other. Their report has been accepted in the journal Physical Review Letters and is available online.
Planetary Society Members helped to fund Pioneer data recovery and analysis when no one else would. Members also made sure we kept the search alive, with updates on our website and in The Planetary Report. It was an intriguing mystery, one that had people talking, asking questions, and eager to learn the answer. For full details, including a link to Slava and his team’s published paper, please read my blog entry at planetary.org/blog.
On behalf of Slava, and all of us at The Planetary Society, thank you!
Mother Nature is full of surprises.
Artemis
