The precession of a gyroscope's spin axis due to the curvature of spacetime around a massive object, as predicted by Einstein's general relativity. This effect occurs even when the massive object is not rotating, unlike frame dragging.
From 'geodetic' (Greek 'geodaisia' meaning earth measurement, referring to the curved paths in spacetime) and 'precession' (Latin 'praecedere' meaning to go before). The effect was predicted by Willem de Sitter in 1916, hence also called de Sitter precession.
Geodetic precession reveals that even 'straight line' motion through curved spacetime causes spinning objects to wobble—it's like rolling a gyroscope on the surface of a sphere where there are no truly straight paths! This effect is about 150 times larger than frame dragging for Earth, making it easier to measure and confirm Einstein's predictions.
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