Our deep space probes are slowing down

[SINthysist]

Something is pulling them back to the sun. Scientists are looking into a new force other than gravity to explain this newly discovered phenomonem. Perhaps physics will be re-written.

Just remember the next time you see environmental science argued, we only think we know. All we really have is hypothesis...

 

[rexfelis]

Hmmmm.... very intriguing... where did you find this information?

 

[april-wine]

So does that mean your exploration of anal sex is over????

 

[Starblayde]

phenomonem

do-doo-dodo-do- phenomenonm do-dodo-doo

repeat ad nauseam


If i can just be serious for a minute....

Whats to say it isnt gravity? If they are going out at a slight angle couldn't our sun be pulling them back ever so slowly? or is it just some other mass of gravity like the centre of our galaxy?

Who knows? Damned if i do...

 

[Azwed]

That is not really news or a surprise to me.

The theory of "dark matter" has been around for a decade if not more.

There are a couple other theories that could explain this as well, but "dark matter" is the one I am most familar with.

The "dark matter' theory is an attempt to explain some anamolies in planet/galactic movement. The movement that these bodies are going through seem to be impossible given the current amount of matter in the universe. The numbers don't add up so there must be something else out there we don't know about. "Dark matter" is one of the possibilities being researched to explain this.

"Dark matter" is supposed to be large amounts of completly dark stuff spread throughout the universe. The dark stuff can't be detected directly because it emits no radiation or visible light. The only way to detect it is based off the infulence it has on other bodies.

This is also how planets in other star systems are found. The planet itself can't be seen because the star is so many times brighter then the planet. The force that the planet exerts on the star can be seen because the star will be pulled ever so slightly towards the planet.

 

[Starblayde]

dark matter

Either the galaxy will continually expand for ever, making incomprehensible differences even further than before...

OR

"dark matter" will eventually hoild everything together, pulling it all back in on itself in a "Big Crunch" where everything gets mashed... (Think Big Bang but in rewind)

 

[Azwed]

All the latest things I have seen show that the universe is indeed slowing.

Whether this is because of "dark matter" or one of the other theories is unknown.

 

[Weevil]

Just remember the next time you see environmental science argued, we only think we know. All we really have is hypothesis...

Or politics or philosophy or any kind of science. We can only throw out theories and try to find the best one. Nothing is certain.

 

[KillerVanity]

Maybe soon the universe will slow down completely, and then start going in reverse... time will go backwards, everything would implode, and we'd all die of death.

Then God will wake up on a beach in Cancun and realize what a crazy dream he just had.

 

[sexy-girl]

i heard about this story a while ago ... not sure if they've been talking about it again or its just popped into the news again ... this actual case isn't to do with dark matter ... its something unexplainable with our present theory of gravity ... what puzzles the egg heads is that the two probes are heading out at completely different directions but slowly down at the same rate ... the theory of Newton's gravity can predict the moons orbit within a cm and just as precise for other planets so Newton's law isn't "wrong"


the egg heads have looked into possible causes such as gas leaks and the probes keeping their heat longer then they thought a possible extra planet ... dark matter ... but all these things seem to have been ruled out due to the fact that they are dealing with two probes in different directions


there is a theory that might actually explain the slowing down of the space probes i forget what its called but it was from an Israeli scientist it says that when dealing with very low acceleration rates that there is a quantum fluctuations of some sort that may slow down objects ... this is their best guess at the moment anyway

 

[MunchinMark]

That or the fact that all of the local gravity wells (The Sun, the Planets and lots of associated rock, gas and dust) are now all behind teh probes, slowing them down. Voyager went past the heliopause a few years ago, this is the distance form the sun that the solar wind peters out. The interesing thing is that scientists had no way of knowing exactly how far away that was until voyager picked up a radio signal that was effectively an echo of a solar flare. Fields of comets and other stuff lie in this area and have only been discovered realtively recently (it is really hard to find things that don't shine in space). So there is plenty of things going on that can throw calculations out.

And as for dark matter. The original reason for suggesting dark matter was because galaxies spin too fast. With the masses that can be estimated from the glowing material (ie. Hydrogen gas fusing in stars) the galaxies should be flying apart. What was holding them together, where was the mass that we couln't see.

I wonder how much is planets, asteroids, comets, dust and common, domestic gas.

 

[SINthysist]

I came across it in my daily reading. Fox.com or Drudgereport.com. It will be interesting to see what the physicists (damn my spelling, damn my two-finger typing too!) begin to say about this, if anything. Like to see what Texan has to say, he's the Rocket Scientist. It certainly ain't me!

 

[SINthysist]

What the hell, someone had to

Spock, get me Scottie...

 

[SINthysist]

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020211-67166412.htm

 

[SINthysist]

What if Dark Matter is like ether?

What if velocity is delta distance over delta time instead of delta distance over time?

 

[Guest]

and what if its molecular surface tension? of course we will have to call it something else won't we.

 

[Thumper]

How about

We just chuck all physics and ask Pat Buchanon what he thinks?



Get a clue, or break out a physics book, Sin.

There is plenty of dark matter we know about. Asteroids, dust etc.

Physics predicted the existence of Pluto before we actually saw it...and the existence of black holes before we had proof.

Relativity is still just a theory but ask the residents of Nagasaki or Hiroshima if they put any stock in it.

All motion is relative since everything is in motion...maybe the probes aren't slowing down (which they will do anyway in response to gravitational drag) and the Solar System is speeding up or slowly changing direction. Maybe there is a large asteroid near it affecting it's trajectory...ad infinitum.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: How about

All motion is relative since everything is in motion...maybe the probes aren't slowing down (which they will do anyway in response to gravitational drag) and the Solar System is speeding up or slowly changing direction. Maybe there is a large asteroid near it affecting it's trajectory...ad infinitum.

Perhaps reading the whole problem would help? There are four different probes headed in four different directions that are all slowing a very minor amount more than predicted. (6mph/century or so.)

Whatever is causing the difference between predicted velocity and actual velocity is affecting all four the same. It would take a pretty big (or very fast) asteriod to slow down four probes with separations of several light-hours.

I think the problem is simple friction -- there is just more "atmosphere" out there than we think there is. It's "dark matter" but not dark matter's gravity that's affecting them. It's just the loss of momentum caused by pushing the occasional hydrogen atom or micro-meteor out of the way that is slowing them down.

 

[Guru]

 

[Guru]

 

[rexfelis]

Do you think it was pulled out of his ass?

Dunno, figured he might tell me if I asked. lol

 

[SINthysist]

Magnetism and electricity have a relationship. Perhaps too, time and gravity, let us say, an inverse relationship.... As the probes get weaker gravity-wise, time speeds up, so velocity goes down. Now, as you approach the center of a dark star, gravity goes up the scale, so time slows down. Hence, it takes you much, much longer, maybe an eternity, to be crushed...

Just a thought...

 

[Thumper]

Ok....

But what happens when Magnetism finds out that Electricity has been spending all his/her(don't know for certain their genders) Time on Lit having cybersex with Gravity?


Another Big Bang or maybe an orgy of quantum mechanics?

 

[SINthysist]

They are same-sex androges, obviously. Sometimes they marry, like static and electricity did... So being an adulterit, Magnetism needs to shut up and get hooked back up with animal...

 

[android1966]

Gravity is a myth, the earth sucks.