GPS satellites hint at Earthly dark matter

• Autores: Anil Ananthaswamy
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2950, 2014, pág. 12
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • An analysis of GPS satellite orbits hints that Earth is heavier than thought, perhaps due to a halo of dark matter. Ben Harris at the University of Texas at Arlington wondered if dark matter might also affect satellites. At a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in December 2013, he reported an average figure that was between 0.005% and 0.008% greater than the value for Earth's mass established by the International Astronomical Union. A disc of dark matter around the equator 191 km and 70,000 km across can explain this, he says.