The identification of asteroids on a possible collision path with the Earth will be easier from now on thanks to the new equation developed by the Spanish scientist Óscar del Barco Novillo, from the University of Murcia, which represents a great advance in the way of tracking their orbits with greater precision.
In a new study published in ‘Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society‘, Barco Novillo presents an extraordinarily precise calculation of the angle of gravitational curvature of light (GBL) of a static massive object, such as the Sun or the planets that move slowly around it.
Isaac Newton was the first to propose that light, which always travels in a straight line, can bend due to gravity, but it was Albert Einstein who went further and described the process in detail in his 1915 theory of general relativity, with which he successfully predicted the angle of deflection of light from distant stars.
Of minor objects…
Now, Oscar del Barco Novillo has developed an exact equation for the GBL angle that allows, for the first time, to indicate the precise positions of smaller objects in the Solar system. Objects like those found in the Kuiper belt or in the most distant Oort Cloud. In this way, from now on astronomers will be able to locate asteroids and other objects potentially dangerous to Earth much more easily.
«Our study – says the researcher – is based on a geometric optics model and provides an exact equation for the most precise calculation to date of the GBL angle of a static massive object, such as the Sun or the planets of the Solar System. Which could have implications for the precise positioning of distant stars, as well as the correct location of smaller Solar System objects, such as asteroids, for a better estimate of their exact orbits. “Consequently, different branches of astronomy and astrophysics, such as celestial mechanics or stellar dynamics, could benefit from this new result.”
…To distant galaxies
The new equation can also help to more precisely locate distant galaxies whose vision is distorted or magnified by large amounts of intermediate mass, which bend light creating the well-known gravitational lensing effect.
The advance is also important in the field of astrometry, a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies, and could even serve to generate more precise maps of mass distribution in clusters of galaxies, a task carried out by the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission, which revealed its first images last year and whose mission is to investigate how dark matter and energy have made our Universe look like it does today. Over the next six years, in fact, Euclid will observe the shapes, distances and movements of billions of galaxies within a radius of 10 billion light years, with the aim of creating the largest 3D cosmic map ever created.
According to Barco, “the fundamental importance of our new equation is its high precision” much greater than that provided by previous approximate calculations. “As a result, it could be instrumental in finding a precise location of minor celestial objects in our solar system and, consequently, a better determination of their orbits around the Sun.”
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