The Earth has a spherical shape (technically an oblate spheriod) but it’s gravitational field is not as spherical.
Gravity’s Oldest Puzzles
Our understanding of gravitational dynamics is very good. With it we can send probes to distant worlds such as Pluto to an accuracy of a dozen kilometers. But sometimes our models don’t quite match reality. These astrometric anomalies are small and subtle, but they sometimes lead to a new understanding of the universe.
The Case Of The Missing Gravitational Waves
One of the last predictions of general relativity to be directly verified is gravitational waves. We have indirect evidence that they exist, but new research finds they may be even more difficult to detect directly that we’ve thought.
How Does Gravity Escape a Black Hole?
Here’s the deal: nothing can travel faster than light. A black hole traps everything including light. So how does gravity escape a black hole?
How Do We Know Gravity Is Constant?
Could the strength of gravity have been different in the past? How can we tell that gravity has never changed?
Over the Rainbow
The large hadron collider will not disprove the big bang, even if it does happen to discover rainbow gravity.
The Pendulum of Truth
The Allais effect is an anomalous result seen in pendulums during a total eclipse. Whether it’s real or due to careless experiments is still debated.
Winter is Coming
New research finds that planetary orbits could be both chaotic and stable, which raises the possibility of “chaotic earths” with extreme seasons.
Grading on the Curve
A team of physicist have measured a variation of gravity known as curvature for the first time.