First ever direct measurement of the Earth's rotation
Thursday, December 22, 2011 - 10:30
in Astronomy & Space
A group with researchers of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, are the first to plot changes in the Earth's axis through laboratory measurements. To do this, they constructed the world's most stable ring laser. Previously, scientists were only able to track shifts in the axis indirectly by monitoring fixed objects in space. Capturing these shifts is crucial for navigation systems.