Gravity Probe-B confirms Einstein, twice


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http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=33455

NASA's Gravity Probe B Confirms Two Einstein Space-Time Theories

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed two key predictions derived from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which the spacecraft was designed to test.

The experiment, launched in 2004, used four ultra-precise gyroscopes to measure the hypothesized geodetic effect, the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, the amount a spinning object pulls space and time with it as it rotates.

GP-B determined both effects with unprecedented precision by pointing at a single star, IM Pegasi, while in a polar orbit around Earth. If gravity did not affect space and time, GP-B's gyroscopes would point in the same direction forever while in orbit. But in confirmation of Einstein's theories, the gyroscopes experienced measurable, minute changes in the direction of their spin, while Earth's gravity pulled at them.

The findings are online in the journal Physical Review Letters.

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Truly amazing that he was able to contemplate such concepts of space and time without any precedent. What a great man.

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Truly amazing that he was able to contemplate such concepts of space and time without any precedent. What a great man.

Well said! That he was as sharp as a razor blade is an understatement, he certainly understood what mathematics was saying to him when he tabled his general theory of relativity.

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Truly amazing that he was able to contemplate such concepts of space and time without any precedent. What a great man.

It really was amazing.

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Truly amazing that he was able to contemplate such concepts of space and time without any precedent. What a great man.

Yep, he is a regular Einstein. Oh wait. :laugh: Really is remarkable.

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that is exactly what i think...

His paper.. and pencil..

and look how accurately he got it sitting in his Room.

such imagination to begin with.

Now... with all the computer power. All the new probes. And we are just proving them instead of finding an even better theory that can be proved!

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Einstein has been surpassed in many ways, quantum mechanics being something he stronly resisted but is a major root of modern technology. But as regards relativity, his theories hold nicely.

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