Santiago – The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth’s rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.
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The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
“Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth’s axis,” NASA officials said in a Monday update.
The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth’s figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds).
The Earth’s figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph).
The figure axis is the axis around which the Earth’s mass is balanced. It is offset from the Earth’s north-south axis by about 33 feet (10 meters).
Strong earthquakes have altered Earth’s days and its axis in the past. The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth’s days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 milliarcseconds).
One Earth day is about 24 hours long. Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.
The Chile earthquake was much smaller than the Sumatran temblor, but its effects on the Earth are larger because of its location. Its epicenter was located in the Earth’s mid-latitudes rather than near the equator like the Sumatran event.
The fault responsible for the 2010 Chile quake also slices through Earth at a steeper angle than the Sumatran quake’s fault, NASA scientists said.
“This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth’s mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth’s figure axis,” NASA officials said.
Gross said his findings are based on early data available on the Chile earthquake. As more information about its characteristics are revealed, his prediction of its effects will likely change.
The Chile earthquake has killed more than 700 people and caused widespread devastation in the South American country.
Several major telescopes in Chile’s Atacama Desert have escaped damage, according to the European Southern Observatory managing them.
A salt-measuring NASA satellite instrument destined to be installed on an Argentinean satellite was also undamaged in the earthquake, JPL officials said.
The Aquarius instrument was in the city of Bariloche, Argentina, where it is being installed in the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D) satellite. The satellite integration facility is about 365 miles (588 km) from the Chile quake’s epicenter.
The Aquarius instrument is designed to provide monthly global maps of the ocean’s salt concentration in order to track current circulation and its role in climate change.
OK; I will daven Mincha 1.26 milliseconds earlier today, or do I daven Shachris 1.26 milliseconds later.
They said the axis would start shifting more and more, until 12/21/12 when the North pole and South pole will “exchange places”. Nothing to do with so called “global warming”, but with the predictions of the Mayan calendar (whose last day is 12/21/12.
so what does this have to do with us? It’s not going to change our lives. Hashem is in control not scientists.
maybe ill book my trip to florida right now for 12/22/12. maybe the mass hysteria will result in better airfares?
The only 2 things that have the potential to wipe out humanity are 1 a very very big celestial event (not somting i think will happen). or 2. a very very bad virus. most likly man made. i wonder if they have one already manufactured. that said. i dont fret it.
The calendar doesn’t end in 2012, it just resets or goes to a different era.
FYI
The Maya never predicted that the world will end. Their calender works in cycles and this was the end of a cycle
Lets not forget hashem dosent have to bring a Mabul , he gave the N.Y. C. once a warning by destroying the Twin Towers we lost almost 3000 people almost a town got wiped off the planet, then the Tsunami again many lives, Haiti many Lives . now Chile many lives . Hashem gives his warnings we should all improve in all our ways Goyim of all nations, and lhavdil we Yidden too. we must do Tshuva , the Hefkaires and Morarlity is unbeliveable unheared off, almost or chasvesholom worser the by the Dor Hamabul, Hashem is calling on us and as well as Gentiles for Tikun Hamasim, YOU SHOULD IMPROVE < lets hear Gods HASHEMS message KOL HASHEM BAKOEACH< Hashem yevorech es amo basholom,
the jewish calendar is till 6000 years & till then moshiach for shore gonna come, so dont worry just do what hashem want from us
What a load of apikorsisdik garbage.
Perhaps the perturbations of the Chile quake can be corrected. Perhaps a well-placed nuclear bomb over Iran can restore the earth’s figure axis to normal, and speed up the rotation by 1.26 milliseconds.
I don’t see why all of you are getting upset over this. This planet has been getting battered and bruised from the beginning of time. We got hit with earthquakes, Tsunami, hurricanes and meteors so big that the dust cloud blocked out the sun and killed of almost all living things on Earth. The planet Earth is still here!!
All of you are nuts. First of all, the Mayans were great astronomers and YES they put mysticism into their findings. That’s all. They predicted comets and the movement of other celestial bodies very accurately with a couple of holes in a domed room. They said some funky stuff but we don’t have to worry about that. What we have to focus on is on their science and on the fact that they noticed a very important upcoming astronomical event. What will happen? Who knows. What I am 100% sure of is that these guys were right on with their predictions. They knew a hell of a lot about stars. For instance, they calculated the exact duration of a year to a thousandth of a decimal point, much more precise than any Greek or enlightened philosopher ever did. They were able to predict every solar and lunar eclipse until this day. And obviously, they knew where the galactic equinox and the exact middle of the Milky Way.
I would be more open if I were you…
For all the people who have never experienced the movement of the earth due to an earthaquake I have to tell you that it is the most horrible sensation of feeling that the end of the world has come. No other words to describe these undescriptible moments I and the rest of the chilean have lived on that unforgetable saturday 27 of february 2010 ( 3.34 am- chilean hour). Today we thank God because He has given us a second chance, to start all over again. we all know it’s going to be a long,long way. Thank you to those of you who live in other countries of this planet, for your help and donations.