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Henri Garcia
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So, I have heard that the deflection of starlight using Newtonian gravity is only half of the deflection predicted by Einstein. NE1 know where I can find an example of the former calculation? thanks
Your Profile page says that you have a PhD. Google is your friend. Please post links to what you find with Google if you have trouble understanding what you are reading. Thank you.Henri Garcia said:So, I have heard that the deflection of starlight using Newtonian gravity is only half of the deflection predicted by Einstein. NE1 know where I can find an example of the former calculation? thanks
The deflection of starlight by Newtonian gravity is a phenomenon predicted by Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravity. It refers to the bending of light as it passes near a massive object, such as a planet or star.
The deflection of starlight can be calculated using the formula Δθ = 2GM/(rc²), where G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the object, r is the distance between the light source and the object, and c is the speed of light.
For example, if a star with a mass of 5 solar masses (M=5) is located 1 AU (149.6 million kilometers) away from a planet with a mass of 1 Jupiter mass (M=1), the deflection of the starlight would be approximately 0.0005 arcseconds.
The deflection of starlight by Newtonian gravity was one of the first pieces of evidence supporting the theory of general relativity proposed by Albert Einstein. It also allows scientists to study and measure the mass and gravitational pull of celestial objects.
Yes, the deflection of starlight by Newtonian gravity is used in various fields of astronomy, such as measuring the mass of galaxies and detecting exoplanets. It is also used in gravitational lensing, a phenomenon where the light of a distant object is magnified and distorted by the gravitational pull of a massive object in front of it.