Gravity

Dear AngleWyrm:
(cross post to sci.astro)
"AngleWyrm" wrote in message
news:A3MNb.66358$nt4.94910@attbi_s51...
Does the effect of gravity actually get from the Sun to the Earth faster
than light?

No. There is no requirement for it to do so in any modern theory.

First, I read that the Sun's photons take something like 8.3 minutes to
traverse the...8.3 light-minute distance to earth (duh), and that this
means
the Sun is presently west of it's apparent position by approximately 20
arc
seconds. [Tom Van Flandern:
http://www.metaresearch.org/cosmolog...of_gravity.asp ].

He goes on to say that it is this point--20 arc seconds west of the
visible
Sun--toward which earth is being pulled. He supports this with the
following:
Such measurements of Earth's acceleration through space are now easy
to make using precise timing data from stable pulsars in various
directions on the sky.
Any movement of the Earth in any direction is immediately reflected
in a decreased delay in the time of arrival of pulses toward
that direction, and an increased delay toward the opposite direction.

The "gravity as geometry" model seems to lack causality, as there is
still
no reason why things should fall together. The model relies on gravity to
portray gravity. However, if we are being pulled towards the current
position of the sun, then something is amiss with the idea that the
impact
of gravity travels. This might open some wonderfully lucid hallucenogenic
visions of gravity as existing outside time, etc.

The space produced by mass/energy has existed for 13 Gy, so it has had
plenty of time to establish itself. "Instantaneous action" is merely the
curvature caused by the planet, orbiting along with the planet.

So does anyone know of where to get pulsar timing data, or how I might
measure Earth's trajectory?

Sorry. Perhaps others can help you.

David A. Smith