Solar eclipse image taken aboard Gemini 12.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of NASA
Can an Eclipse Change Gravity?
News story originally written on July 6, 1999
An age old question is going to be answered! For over 40 years, scientists have wondered if a solar eclipse can change Earth's gravity. A scientist named
Maurice Allais thinks that during an eclipse, Earth's gravity is greater.
Allais used a Foucault pendulum to test his theory. This special pendulum swings in the same direction, even though the Earth turns below it. Scientists tested the theory during the solar eclipse on August 11, 1999. They say that if Allais is right, all we know about gravity will change.
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