• Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    1 year ago

    Genuinely we can’t tell what it is. We once thought it was just a normal pull due to mass until Einstein proved us wrong during a solar eclipse where we could see stars that shouldn’t be visible from our current position in orbit. Then we get into how it works, WHICH THERE IS NO TELLING AS THERE ARE TO MANY GOD DAMNED VARIABLES INVOLVED.

    • theangryseal@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      You’re fucking with me, right?

      Stars were visible that shouldn’t have been visible?

      What am I missing?

      • neryam@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        Stars that were behind the sun (within the radius of the sun, geometrically speaking) were visible due to gravitational lensing

          • Classy@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            It isn’t directly analogous because one is gravitational and the other is not, but if you’ve ever watched a ship sail beyond the horizon, sometimes you can see a reflection of the sail after it is no longer in direct sight, because the way that light can reflect around the curvature of the earth. It’s a pretty crazy phenomenon.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirage#Superior_mirage

            In the case of the OP, as light from distant stars approach the sun, some of their light that may normally have passed to the side of the sun and beyond the earth, thus rendering them invisible, are instead ‘bent’ back towards the earth by the sun’s gravitational well. But since the sun is so luminous we normally cannot see those stars. If the sun were somehow dark we would see a collection of tiny, distorted stars around the perimeter of it.

            To metaphorize: imagine a ball rolling straight from a point directly in front of you, but at an angle such that it won’t roll to you. Now imagine a dip in the ground, not deep enough to cause it to fall in and not escape, but enough to cause the ball to curve as it rolls, sending it to you instead. The sun acts in a similar manner on light.