Einstein’s ‘impossible’ hope: Light bending theory directly observed in distant stars for first time

Astronomers have used the gravitational warping of light, predicted by Einstein nearly a century ago, to measure the mass of a distant star for the first time.
Key points

The effect of gravity on light can be used to measure the mass of objects in space Einstein said it would be impossible to observe this phenomenon with distant stars Study provides clues about the fate of our own Sun

The team, led by Kailash Sahu of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, measured the mass of a white dwarf star called Stein 2051 B as it passed in front of another more distant star — an event Einstein thought would be impossible to observe.

The findings, publishing in today’s edition of Science, will help us understand more about these small dense stars and the ultimate fate of our Sun, which will become a white dwarf star when it burns out.

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I see our old mate GL gets a mention (his name crops up in New scientist as well).

I’m surprised this is a first.

I’ll wait for moll to confirm or otherwise.

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ll wait for moll to confirm or otherwise.

Um, later.

The Rev Dodgson said:

I see our old mate GL gets a mention (his name crops up in New scientist as well).

I’m surprised this is a first.

I’ll wait for moll to confirm or otherwise.

“While gravitational lensing has been used by astronomers to study the galactic bulge in our Milky Way and other galaxies such as Andromeda and the Magellanic Clouds, this is the first time it has been used to study distant stars.”

I know of a gravitational lensing study of stars in one of the Magellanic Clouds. Without reading the original paper, I can’t know the difference between a distant star and a “distant star”.

I’m delighted that the mass of the intervening object exactly matches that of the Chandrasekhar limit.

this topic is discussed on FB. one poster put forward the proposition that it was refraction rather than gravity bending the starlight.

Do i need to remind you all that this ‘only a theory’, like evolution, and is equally open to the proposition that ‘God did it’?

mcgoon said:

Do i need to remind you all that this ‘only a theory’, like evolution, and is equally open to the proposition that ‘God did it’?

Its so easy to say someone else did it.