Gravity Probe B, a NASA/Stanford physics experiment, recently finished its year-long mission orbiting the Earth. The final results may take a year to analyze but promise to aid in visualizing the shape of space-time around Earth. If Einstein’s theory of relativity holds true, and this is the big theoretical question that’s being testing, Earth’s spacetime is a vortex:

Time and space, according to Einstein’s theories of relativity, are woven together, forming a four-dimensional fabric called “space-time.” The tremendous mass of Earth dimples this fabric, much like a heavy person sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Gravity, says Einstein, is simply the motion of objects following the curvaceous lines of the dimple.

Read the full story at Science Blog.

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