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Science and Astronomy #226123 04/19/12 02:04 PM
Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,837 California fly-over country Artemis OP Pulitzer
OP Artemis Pulitzer Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,837 California fly-over country	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. Quote 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 History is easy once you've lived it. - Duncan MacLeod Writing history is easy once you've lived it. - Artemis

Re: Science and Astronomy #226124 04/22/12 04:18 AM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 732 Likes: 1 Michigan's thumb S Shallowford Columnist
Shallowford Columnist S Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 732 Likes: 1 Michigan's thumb	A bit of background--the Pioneer anomaly showed up as an unexplained slowing in the Pioneer probe more than 15 years ago and has defied explanation until now. The amount of force causing this change in speed is probably less than the push sunlight would produce shining on your hand. Shallowford

Re: Science and Astronomy #226125 04/22/12 12:01 PM
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,371 Likes: 1 Corvallis bobbart Top Banana
bobbart Top Banana Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,371 Likes: 1 Corvallis	Quote The amount of force causing this change in speed is probably less than the push sunlight would produce shining on your hand. But, of course, the force is constant. Constant acceleration is an amazing thing. Just remember that if you accelerate at a modest 1G for a year, your ending speed would (if not for that pesky relativity problem) end up being faster than the speed of light. (Not possible because of more relativity issues.) Still, if you did have a way of building a space ship that could accelerate at a constant 1G, if you were willing to accept multi-year space missions, you could cruse around the galaxy at effectively the speed of light. (We'll ignore the HUGE technical challenge of constant 1G ships for now. ) It's fun stuff to consider. Still, this illustrates that even a very very modest force, if applied constantly, can have surprising results. Mathematically predictable, but surprising nevertheless Bob

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