Researchers confirmed “The space-time around Earth appears to be distorted just as general relativity predicts”. They announced the long-awaited results of Gravity Probe B (GP-B) at a press conference 3 days ago at NASA headquarters.

Time and space, according to Einstein’s theories of relativity, are woven together, forming a four-dimensional fabric called “space-time.” The mass of Earth dimples this fabric, much like a heavy person sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Gravity, says Einstein, is simply the motion of objects following the curvaceous lines of the dimple.

If Earth were stationary, that would be the end of the story. But Earth is not stationary. Our planet spins, and the spin should twist the dimple, slightly, pulling it around into a 4-dimensional swirl. This is what GP-B went to space in 2004 to check.

(from science.nasa.gov)

This image is my modest homage to this finding

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Six months ago in this blog: Pope Benedict XVI