Space & Astronomy
Gravity holes - planetary assassins ?
By
T.K. RandallFebruary 24, 2009 ·
3 comments
Image Credit: NASA
NASA's new 'STEREO' probes will search for objects that are trapped in Langrangian points, can this new research pinpoint so-called "gravity holes" in space ?
They are the places gravity forgot. Vast regions of space, millions of kilometres across, in which celestial forces conspire to cancel out gravity and so trap anything that falls into them. They sit in the Earth's orbit, one marching ahead of our planet, the other trailing along behind. Astronomers call them Lagrangian points, or L4 and L5 for short. The best way to think of them, though, is as celestial flypaper."
Source:
New Scientist |
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