Gravity has the power to distort light. This also concerns the gravitational force of our own Sun. A new study suggests a formula that better describes this effect. Scientists believe it will help to more accurately assess risks from asteroids.
Gravity, light and asteroids
Asteroid danger is a problem that worries all mankind and at the same time has many aspects that ordinary people do not always think about. For example, the topic of the curvature of light by the Sun’s gravitational force is related to all of this. Usually this effect is taken into account when exploring distant galaxies, but a new scientific paper shows that it is also important for predicting our planet’s approaches to space rocks.
The point is that in order to do anything with them, we have to figure out the trajectory first. And for this, we need a lot of their observations, which are possible due to the sunlight reflected from the surface of these stones. And the problem arises the moment those rays pass close to the Sun.
There are numerical formulas, whose history stretches back to Newton and Einstein, that allow us to estimate how gravity affects the motion of photons. However, they all have a certain margin of error, which usually does not have a certain value. But physicist Oscar del Barco Novillo says it doesn’t predict the trajectories of dangerous asteroids with enough accuracy.
New formula
It’s hard to disagree with the logic of Novillo, who works at the University of Murcia in Spain. A tiny inaccuracy in determining the vector of motion of an asteroid on the other side of the Sun — and here we have a completely different orbit.
Therefore, he proposes an entirely new formula for calculating the gravitational curvature of rays. The author of the new study proposes his own formula, which he says is more accurate than those proposed before him.
He has already tested it in Earth laboratory conditions, that is, he has tested how accurately it can predict the curvature of light and is now working with astronomical data. Novillo says that if the formula does prove to be more accurate, it could be used not only to predict asteroid impacts, but also to study exoplanets such as Proxima Centauri. It may also help the Euclid telescope in its search for dark matter.
According to sciencealert.com
