a lazy artist, a sci-fi geek (science not fantasy, so space ships not elves), a Pacers / Lions fan, a writer, a former journalist, an art collector, an investor, and all-around former bad ass who's grown soft and content.
Did our days just get shorter?
According to scientists at NASA the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on Feb. 27 was so powerful it may have tipped Earth’s axis and shortened the length of a day.
The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, appears to 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.
A large quake shifts enough rock to redistribute the mass of the planet, which can speed its rotation.
The change won’t be noticed in day-to-day life, but is permanent.
Gross also calculated that the quake moved Earth’s figure axis (the axis about which Earth’s mass is balanced) by about three inches.
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. 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.
Isn’t this third rock from the Sun an interesting place to live?