A rapid YouTube research reveals a plethora of floating astronaut videos. They can spin in the air, juggle bubbles of h2o and their hair appears to be like absurd. It undoubtedly seems that there’s no gravity in area — but appearances are deceiving.
Astronauts in orbit are a lot more properly in free tumble. They are continually falling in the direction of Earth — which means Earth is holding really the gravitational maintain on them. They just happen to be also relocating fast sufficient that they preserve missing the floor.
The Root of Gravity: Does latest exploration carry us any nearer to understanding it?
Gravity does weaken with length. But for significant objects like stars and planets, their gravitational attain is huge. Without having Earth’s gravity, the Moon (which orbits roughly a thousand occasions farther away than the International Space Station) would fly off into the depths of area. As an alternative, Earth retains it on a gravitational tether. Furthermore, the Sun retains a grasp above not just Earth and Jupiter and Pluto, but even the Oort Cloud of comets, which extends a entire light-weight-year away.
The Sun is issue to the gravity of the significant black hole at the middle of the Milky Way. And the Milky Way itself dances to the gravitational drumbeat of other close by galaxies.
In limited, it is hard to come across objects in area that are not issue to a thing else’s gravitational tug.
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