Bite Like Bumps On Arm

space probes Pioneer 10 and 11, which revolutionized the understanding of the distant solar system, with its photographs and studies of the giant planets, in recent years are raising a call incognita the "Pioneer anomaly"

The anomaly refers to the fact that ships seem to be moving in a different way of how they should do or more precisely, they seem to be subject to a slight acceleration whose direction is towards the Sun

The anomaly was detected for the first time by John Anderson in 1980, when data analysis to monitor the spacecraft showed a small acceleration toward the sun, without explanation. (This was first published in 1995, but the main paper appeared in 1998). Since then he has continuously studied by some scientists.

The Pioneer anomaly is one of the mysteries (very few!) Real in contemporary physics, and is a great example of how science is done.

How was the research

The first step - that Anderson and his colleagues took - was to work with the spacecraft data, how fast they traveled (and direction).

then calculated the effects of gravity, of all known Solar System objects (between the sun and asteroids and comets).

measured and calculated values \u200b\u200bfor the Pioneer X and XI. Both spacecraft show the anomaly. Later

calculated the effects of things like radiation pressure and the possible release gas.

So ... It also tried to check if other spacecraft appeared to have undergone a similar anomalous acceleration (The problem is that there is no unambiguous answer, because the ships have known movements - but which can not be a model physical-with effects much larger than the Pioneer anomaly).

Several independent investigations have been carried out, using different methods, etc

In recent years, much effort has been invested in trying to find the raw data of follow up (this has been difficult, because many data tapes were not in place, for example), and the extraction of clean signals (also difficult ... the data was not intended to be tested in this way are very poor , ....

And yet, the anomaly remains ...
inexplicable
There is an acceleration of approximately 9 x 10 - ¹ º m / s ², at the Sun This is about 10 ; km / h per century. It is 100 billion times weaker than the acceleration of gravity on our planet.

diagram where they are at this time the Pioneer spacecraft X, XI, Voyager 1 and 2. Even though the Pioneer head to places almost opposite the solar system, the fault is measurable in both.

The Planetary Society has been funding research into the Pioneer anomaly, and you can see a great summary here . (In English).

There are several possibilities to explain the anomaly.

Some go to a nonexistent effect that has to do with the heating of the spacecraft in a non-homogeneous deviate makes up others that are related to a deviation from Einstein's gravity, or the Kuiper Belt slows the ship .....

The reality is that when There are many options to explain something, not much is known of the subject ...

some versions have come out lately that the anomaly corresponds to the disintegration of atoms of atomic reactor, which accounts for about a third of the effect, or another that says that the only thing that happens is that the ship is in contact with the magnetic and electric field of the solar system, but nothing is definite yet.

will have to wait. Maybe not is nothing, or maybe we're on the verge of something that will revolutionize modern physics.