The Perihelion Precession of the Planets Indicates a Variability of the Gravitational Constant

Abstract

The gravitational constant G according to the theory of NEWTON is the most imprecise constant of all physical constants. Moreover, there are a number of phenomena which suggest that this is caused by its invariant nature and the gravitation constant might be in fact a variable. In this article, a possible dependence of the gravitational constant on the distance between the two mass points is determined from the observed values of the perihelion displacement of the planets. However, to fit the observed measurements the 1/ r 2 dependence is modified to a 1/ r 2+1/R dependence with “R” as the Rydberg constant. With the proposed new power function, the perihelion precessions of the planets are recalculated and then compared with previous observations as well as the postulated anomaly of Saturn.