Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 30: Nov-Dec 1983 Issue Contents

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The Throbbing Earth

The planet earth throbs regularly every 12 sidereal hours according to gravity-wave detectors located in Geneva and Frascati, Italy. The pulsations, presumably expansions and contractions of the earth-as-a-whole, have been re-corded at both places for over a year. Pulse amplitudes are about 100 times larger than those that are expected from gravity waves, so planetary pulsations are blamed. Since sidereal time is measured with respect to the fixed stars rather than the sun, an extraterrestrial origin is possible, although no one knows what sort of cosmic force could make our planet throb like this with such precise timing.

(Anonymous; "Italians Discover Earth Throb," New Scientist, September 29, 1983.)

From Science Frontiers #30, NOV-DEC 1983. © 1983-2000 William R. Corliss

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Science Frontiers Sourcebook Project Reviewed in: Icarus: Volume 41, Issue 3, p. 470-470 1984, Vol.56:3, P.615 1983, Vol.58:3 June 1984, Vol.60:3 Dec 1984, Vol.72:3 Dec 1987 Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 81, no. 1 1987 American Journal of Physics, Volume 52, Issue 8, p. 764 August 1984 Quotes "Before opening the book, I set certain standards that a volume which treads into dangerous grounds grounds like this must meet. The author scrupulously met, or even exceeded those standards. Each phenomenon is exhaustively documented, with references to scientific journals [..] and extensive quotations" -- "Book Review: The moon and planets: a catalog of astronomical anomalies", The Sourcebook Project, 1985., Corliss, W. R., Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada>, Vol. 81, no. 1 (1987), p. 24., 02/1987