B Einstein Proven Right by 2017 Eclipse? Investigation

[smodak]

Did the 2017 eclipse prove Einstein was right or the jury is still out? I can't find any references to the new measurements and what they proved (or did not).

 

[Dale]

Did the 2017 eclipse prove Einstein was right or the jury is still out?

Huh? What's the connection?

 

[PAllen]

So far as I know, there were no measurements of light bending for this eclipse. GR predictions of light bending have been tested so many times in so many ways there would be no point in doing them again unless someone figured out how to significantly increase precision and got funding for it. The experiments done for this eclipse primarily focused on coronal physics, for which there remain unanswered questions.

 

[smodak]

So far as I know, there were no measurements of light bending for this eclipse. GR predictions of light bending have been tested so many times in so many ways there would be no point in doing them again unless someone figured out how to significantly increase precision and got funding for it. The experiments done for this eclipse primarily focused on coronal physics, for which there remain unanswered questions.

I was confused by the NASA (and other) article.
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/testing-general-relativity
https://www.livescience.com/59940-solar-eclipse-einstein-theory-of-general-relativity.html

They talk about amateurs testing GR, but somehow I took that as GR is being re validated

 

[PAllen]

I was confused by the NASA (and other) article.
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/testing-general-relativity
https://www.livescience.com/59940-solar-eclipse-einstein-theory-of-general-relativity.html

They talk about amateurs testing GR, but somehow I took that as GR is being re validated

These are articles about amateurs taking on the challenge of duplicating a famous experiment. It is really cool that this is just within the grasp of an advanced amateur, but these are not experiments aimed at publishable results (though, I guess, if someone got good enough results, they could get a note published somewhere). These are certainly not serious attempts to extend the evidence for GR.

 

[Herman Trivilino]

Clifford M. Will has published extensively on the history of the experimental results that confirm general relativity. There are far more convincing experiments than the observation of the apparent bending of light as it passes near an eclipsed sun. Do a google search for, for example, Venus radar ranging and tests of general relativity.