Gravity is a tricky thing. How cool would it be to somersault and float in the air without having to crash face-first on the ground? Well, not all have the luxury of being an astronaut, being in zero-gravity, floating among the stars, dust and asteroids. We can’t help but feel a little envious about not being in that part of the universe. Well, we do have a zero-gravity day.
Wait, what? Does that mean we can book a trip to space and experience weightlessness? Is that even possible?
But we experience weightlessness in man-made facilities like Zero-G experience and NASA’s Vomit Comet, but it still doesn’t makeup to flying among the stars in absolute dark space. But we are the people of Earth. We can make anything possible, right?
We’ll get back to that later. First, is space truly zero-gravity?
There Is Gravity In Space. As space is a vast vacuum, it’s probably perceived that it’s hard to detect gravity everywhere.
Let’s start here; anyone that says there is no gravity in space should be the biggest fool of all time. Or you might have probably watched it in yet another science-fiction movie that assumes that space is a vacuum, hence no gravity.
Space is majorly filled with gravity. Almost nothing works without it. It’s one of the fundamental forces that govern everything and pretty much what general relativity is based on.
So How Does It Work?
We all know that the bigger the particle, the massive the gravity. This is the simple principle of gravity. The closer you are to a huge object, the stronger the gravitational pull. It might seem like the pull weakens as you move away, but it’s only because you are getting far away. But gravity is always there.
This is why the Moon orbits the Earth, and the Earth orbits the Sun, and so does every other planet and its moons.
Okay, now that we got this right, what about the anti-gravity day? Is it still possible?
Can Zero-Gravity Make You Feel Weightless?
Now wouldn’t that be amazing? To experience zero-gravity for free. Let’s imagine it’s god’s gift. But sorry to disappoint you, it’s just another astronomical hoax.
It started with the fake news that began spreading on famous social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook that January 4 was zero-gravity day. Which then re-surfaced over the years nearly for the past four decades.
Back in 1976, Patrick Moore, a British astronomer, predicted on a British radio program that the world would experience weightlessness for a couple of minutes precisely at 9:47 PST AM on January 4. He mentioned that a planetary alignment between Pluto and Jupiter would cause this effect on Earth. He said, “the two planets will exert a stronger tidal pull, temporarily counteracting the Earth’s gravity making people virtually weightless.”
During this Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect, we can experience weightlessness by jumping in the air at the precise moment the alignment occurs that it will cause a “strange floating sensation.”
Is It True?
This was later confirmed fake. Jupiter is no way closer to Pluto, and neither can Pluto’s gravity manipulate the solar system’s largest planet. Also, Jupiter and pluto are on the opposite sides of the sky, as seen from Earth. Thus, there is no Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect.
At the end of the day, it was all just a huge April fool’s prank. And I can tell that Moore did a great job at that because people still believe it even though he passed away back in 2012.
Well, it is not every day someone talks about zero-gravity or notices it. Right?
