the galaxy as measured by Michelson-Morley interferometer experiments
is similar to that measured by the COBE cosmic background radiation
measurements by Cahill and Kitto. This speed works out to about 360
km/s. This article can be found at:
http://www.arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0205/0205070.pdf
The article presents a very convincing argument that the speed detected
by these types of experiments depends on the medium in which they are
conducted.
While the paper indicated that the speed was the same, it did not say
whether the direction of the Earth was the same as measured by the COBE
satellite data. If both the speed and direction matched up, this would
be strong evidence that the results from these early experiments were
not due to experimental error. This would strongly confirm that the
detection of aether drift was real.
Dayton C. Miller performed extremely detailed interferometer
experiments over a period of many years and he did calculate the
direction of the Earth based on aether-drift experiments. The
description of these experiments can be found in his original 1925
Science article. It can be found at:
http://www.16pi2.com/files/Aether_Dayton_Miller_Article.doc
Miller concluded that the motion of the Earth through the galaxy was
consistent with a direction towards the constellation Draco. So the
question is, did this match up with the direction found by the COBE
data?
To determine this, I referred to a map of the cosmic background
radiation found at:
http://aether.lbl.gov/www/projects/u2/
The map of the CMBR is usually drawn in a Galactic coordiate system. To
map the features of the CMBR against know constellation positions, I
referenced this sky map in galactic coordinates:
http://www.anzwers.org/free/universe/galchart.html
From the data, we can see that the Earth's motion through the galaxy as
measured by the COBE CMBR data is towards the constellation of Leo.
So how close was Miller's direction of Draco to the Leo position? Not
very close. Draco and Leo lie on the same lattitude, so that part is
close, but they are spaced about 120 degrees apart in longitude.
Now it may have been that Miller was unduly influenced by other data
indicating that the direction of movement was towards Hercules. The
method used by Miller to determine the location was to calculate where
the experimental data should have been given a specific direction and
then compare it against the actual data. Since the lattitude is almost
exactly the same, the difference between Leo and Draco may have been
minimal. The calculations must have been enormously difficult as it
would be like trying to calculate the direction of the external wind
while you were whirling inside of a tea cup ride.
In conclusion, the direction found by COBE and by Miller are similar in
some respects but not exactly the same. It is inconclusive whether this
adds additional evidence for the aether hypothesis, but I think it is
worthy of further investigation.
