[UPDATE (April 5, 2011): It turns out some of the descriptions I used below to describe a geoid were not accurate. I refer you to this page at the University of Oklahoma for a good description. I’ve ...

When we’re told about newly released satellite images of our Earth, we imagine beautiful swathes of green and blue with the occasional white of swirling storm clouds or snow-topped mountain ranges.

AMAZING GRACE Data collected by the twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellites have produced the most accurate map yet of Earth's geoid, or gravity field, even before the ...

The Earth’s geoid is the shape the planet would assume if its surface were made of water. Naturally, there’s little dispute over the shape of the geoid over the oceans, where it varies by only 100 ...

Concerned about your weight? Don’t go to the North Pole, where you’re about 20 km closer to the center of Earth–and therefore a pound or so heavier–than at the equator. Head, instead, for India. There ...

Scientists have unveiled the most accurate map of the Earth's gravity ever produced which shows it to be shaped not like a sphere but a potato. The new data is expected to improve our understanding of ...

A sleek satellite orbiting Earth has confirmed that the planet is not the simple squashed sphere we often imagine it to be. It is, in fact, more like a lumpy potato. Nearly a year’s worth of ...

A sophisticated satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) has mapped Earth's gravity with unprecedented precision, helping scientists have clearer understanding of the variation in the ...

[UPDATE (April 5, 2011): It turns out some of the descriptions I used below to describe a geoid were not accurate. I refer you to this page at the University of Oklahoma for a good description. I've ...

Scientists have unveiled the most accurate map of the Earth's gravity ever produced, which shows it to be shaped not like a sphere but a potato. Gravitational map of the Earth, or geoid, which shows ...