Does Galactic Rotation Cause Frame Dragging?

AI Thread Summary
Galactic rotation does produce frame dragging effects, but these are negligible on a galactic scale. The significance of frame dragging is primarily dependent on mass and rotational speed, with notable effects occurring near black holes rather than within galaxies. While some minor effects may be felt at the edges of galaxies and between spiral arms, they are minimal compared to the scale of the galaxy itself. Calculating frame dragging effects can be complex, but they are often intuitively understood rather than rigorously quantified. Overall, the consensus is that galactic rotation has a minimal impact on frame dragging.
H2Bro
Messages
164
Reaction score
4
Do galaxies produce measurable/significant frame dragging effects by their rotation?

I would think frame dragging depends on the mass and speed of rotation... Are such effects only felt at the boundary between rotating gravitational fields and flatter space, i.e. the edge of the milky way? Or would frame dragging produce effects throughout the milky way, i.e. in the gaps between spiral arms as well as between stars.
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
These effects are completely negligible on the galactic scale. Frame dragging is only significant near the event horizon of a black hole. For comparison, if the entire mass of a galaxy were compressed to a point; its event horizon would be about a million times smaller than the radius of the galaxy, suggesting the effects will be completely negligible.

You're right that the degree of the effect depends only on the mass and speed of rotation (generally measured by the angular momentum). What (little) effects there are would be felt both at the edge of the disk, and between the spiral-arms.
 
Hi, one question.
Are there any calculations to figure out frame dragging, or the strength of frame dragging is purely "intuitively implied" (in case the math is prohibitively complex)?

Edit:
Never mind, I've read up on this one.
 
Last edited:
Is a homemade radio telescope realistic? There seems to be a confluence of multiple technologies that makes the situation better than when I was a wee lad: software-defined radio (SDR), the easy availability of satellite dishes, surveillance drives, and fast CPUs. Let's take a step back - it is trivial to see the sun in radio. An old analog TV, a set of "rabbit ears" antenna, and you're good to go. Point the antenna at the sun (i.e. the ears are perpendicular to it) and there is...
This thread is dedicated to the beauty and awesomeness of our Universe. If you feel like it, please share video clips and photos (or nice animations) of space and objects in space in this thread. Your posts, clips and photos may by all means include scientific information; that does not make it less beautiful to me (n.b. the posts must of course comply with the PF guidelines, i.e. regarding science, only mainstream science is allowed, fringe/pseudoscience is not allowed). n.b. I start this...
Back
Top