When you get very close to some other large body the moon, Mars, or the sun its gravity dominates over that of the earth. But it dies off quite slowly (compared to nuclear forces). It is true that as you get farther from the earth, its gravitational pull weakens. Public Domain Image, source: Christopher S. This image is an artisitic rendition of our galaxy.
Even if you managed to get away from our sun, you would still experience the galaxy's gravity. Each galaxy is held together by strong gravitational forces. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium.
EST or 1747 GMT), just be advised that you won't be floating in the air for any longer than you would on any other day or time. If you saw the message and were planning to jump in the air on Sunday at 9:47 a.m. And just how could all this supposed extra gravity somehow concentrate into a single minute of time? Times more massive than Pluto, so the smaller planet wouldn't much change Jupiter's usual gravitational effects. To state that Pluto will pass behind the sun on Sunday is a complete fallacy.Īnd even if it were true that Jupiter and Pluto were to align, what would that do? Jupiter is 130,000 Pluto will be in conjunction with the sun on Saturday, while Jupiter will be at opposition to the sun just over a month later, on Feb. The hoax claims that this supposed alignment, with the resulting combined gravitational force of the two planets, would exert a stronger tidal pull, temporarily counteracting the Earth's own gravity and making people virtually weightless.īut the truth is Pluto and Jupiter are currently on opposite sides of the sky as seen from Earth. The claim that Pluto will pass directly behind Jupiter in relation to Earth is totally untrue. Moore probably never would have dreamt that his radio prank would be recycled and appear before a worldwide audience on the Internet decades later. He jokingly informed his radio audience that they would experience a strange floating sensation if they jumped in the air at that time.Īmazingly, within minutes after the appointed time, dozens of listeners had reportedly phoned in to say the experiment had worked! On April Fools' Day in 1976, Moore informed a local radio audience of the "Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect," which would occur that very day at 9:47 a.m. Moorewas a British amateur astronomer who attained prominent status in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.
Notes Susan Rose, president of New York’s Amateur Observers' Society and a long-time friend of Moore: "Patrick must be turning over in his grave."īut as it turns out, he did make the claims nearly 39 years ago. Interestingly, many who heard that the "Zero Gravity Day" claims have been attributed to Moore were quick to point out that he could not have done so this year, because he passed away on Dec. In fact, it is a repurposing of an old April Fools' Day joke told by Moore in 1976. According to the article, people on Earth could experience this "Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect" by "jumping in the air at the precise moment the alignment occurred." If they did so, Moore supposedly said, they would experience a "strange floating sensation."īut this story is completely false.
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