An experiment to test Newton's idea would provide supporting evidence for both his law of universal gravitation and estimates of the mass and density of the Earth. Since the masses of astronomical objects were known only in terms of relative ratios, the mass of the Earth would provide reasonable values to the other planets, their moons, and the Sun. The data were also capable of determining the value of the Newtonian constant of gravitation G, though this was not a goal of the experimenters; references to a value for G would not appear in the scientific literature until almost a hundred years later.