Physics Thursday, January 9, 2003 . This is a SciScoop post by Drog
He reworked the equations of general relativity to express the gravitational field of a moving body in terms of its mass, velocity and the speed of gravity. If you could measure the gravitational field of Jupiter, while knowing its mass and velocity, you could work out the speed of gravity. Such an opportunity arose last September when Jupiter passed in front of a quasar that emits bright radio waves. He and Ed Fomalont, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, combined observations from a series of radio telescopes across Earth to measure the apparent change in the quasar’s position as the gravitational field of Jupiter bent the passing radio waves. From that they calculated that gravity does indeed move at the same speed as light. This result should help narrow down the possible number of extra dimensions and their sizes.
Previously: « Gadgets Galore
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1 Response to Speed of Gravity Measured–Einstein Was Right
dean sinclair
May 1st, 2009 at 8:31 pm
If the Oscillator/Substance Model, which has appeared since this article was written happens to be valid in suggesting that Gravity is an observational phenomenon of adjustment of a substance/medium of the part of the medium between two entities and the part that is “elsewhere,” this readjustment would travel at the maximum speed of transfer of information/energy in the medium which is the average motion in any given direction, i.e. the speed of light.
This changes nothing as to the validity of the report. Simply noting that the reported “Speed of Gravity” is totally consistent with a different model than what is usually used.