"just as a Voyager probe gains energy whiping thru Jupiter's big fat gravitational field"
The reason why the Voyagers gained kinetic energy [KE] was because momentum was conserved and the increase in the spacecraft KE was balanced by the decrease in Jupiter's KE due to the trajectory that was chosen. The two masses were coupled by gravity. However, if a different trajectory had been chosen then the transfer could have been the opposite way round and the spacecraft would have slowed down and Jupiter speeded up (....a bit !!!).
However getting back to the point, maybe it's got something to do with the fact that time runs slower in a gravity well relative to not being in quite so much of a gravity well, and that energy appears to be less due to red shift. If so then I think it's misleading to talk about gaining and losing energy when no energy transfer is taking place.
I'm probably barking up the wrong tree here. PLEASE HELP....................
Space/Science » in reply to My take
re: My take
