NASA has determined that the magnitude 8.8 earthquake last week in Chile and its subsequent aftershocks have moved enough rock around on earth to change the angle of its rotation and consequently change the rate of its rotation about that axis. This has or will probably result in each day being 1.26 microseconds shorter.
CNN story
| ? | Is this change instantaneous or does it occur over time and, if the later, how long does it take? |
| How far would the Space Shuttle miss the ISS or a satellite fired at the Moon miss its target if NASA did not factor this minute change into their orbital mechanics equations? |
| How long will it be before enough error is accumulated in my planetarium softwares that their predictions become inacurate? |
NASA has determined that the magnitude 8.8 earthquake last week in Chile and its subsequent aftershocks have moved enough rock around on earth to change the angle of its rotation and consequently change the rate of its rotation about that axis. This has or will probably result in each day being 1.26 microseconds shorter.
