Earth's center of mass drifts less than we thought
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- Em foco: Where is Earth's center of mass?. The answer seems trivially obvious. It's right in the middle of the planet
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Where is Earth's center of mass. The answer seems trivially obvious.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Add as preferred source The Earth's center of mass drifts by millimeters over the years.
Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio Where is Earth's center of mass? . Knowing Earth's center of mass to within millimeters reveals some interesting facts about our planet.
To measure Earth's center of mass accurately, we must look to space. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, this was done using satellites known as LAGEOS.
This new study improves accuracy by using GPS data to account for tiny shifts in the locations of ground-based observatories. All of this causes Earth's center of mass to move seasonally.
These shifts can also affect things such as Earth's rotational speed.
Fonte original: Phys. org Space