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Re: Impact of Spheroidicity



Leigh Palmer wrote:

As a parting shot, does the gravitational force of the Sun
on the Earth point to the center of the Sun as we see it on
Earth?

Off the top of my head, I would say only when the sun is at zenith. Assuming
spherical symmetry for the mass densities of Earth and Sun, the force vector would
lie on the center-to-center line between Earth and Sun. The line of sight from an
observation point on Earth's surface to the center of the sun's disk coincides with
this center-to-center line only when the observation point itself lies on the
center-to-center line.

I'm probably wrong.

poj