Andr? Michaud wrote:

(Spud) wrote in message ...
Is there enough information to state the acceleration is directly
towards the sun ?

Yes.

What if there is an acceleration towards the earth ?

Isn't this worth investigating.

There is no need. Both crafts are on escape trajectories from
the Solar system in opposite directions, the Sun being the
central body of the system.

The attraction of the Earth is totally negligible at the
distances involved.

And yet it was the target of the probes' transmissions,
and to aim their antennae, they aimed their whole bodies at it.

Since the anomalous acceleration was so small,
and the angle between Earth and the sun
as seen from the probes was also small in most of the
years when the acceleration was being measured,
it may well be that there is no way to tell
whether they were anomalously accelerating towards the Sun
due to some Solar-mass-dependent effect,
or towards the Earth because of a force
aligned with one of their axes.

If you knew, and could show, that for sure
no such force could have been acting,
then of course no investigation would be worthwhile.
Maybe it still isn't, but the case for not looking
is not made by assuming nothing can be there.


--- Graham Cowan
http://www.eagle.ca/~gcowan/Paper_for_11th_CHC.doc --
How individual mobility gains nuclear cachet.
Link if you want it to happen