Gravitational Lensing or Inferior Mirage?

[6nqpnw]

Can gravitational lensing also be explained by the refraction of light from a more distant object through a gradient of radiant heat and dense cool space?

Same difference? Or completely separate and unrelated?

If unrelated, how can this optical phenomenon be determined as a result of light passing through curved spacetime -vs- heat distortion? (other than Einstein said so)

 

[Drakkith]

I've never heard of "dense cool space". What exactly is that supposed to be?

I don't believe the phenomenon can be explained your way. Gravitational lensing behaves exactly as predicted by Einstein and Relativity.

 

[6nqpnw]

I was looking for an explanation more along the lines of principles and laws, not "beliefs" and "predictions."

However, I do believe I've sorted it out. Astronomical Mirages exist as does Gravitational Lensing. And to determine which of the two is causing the distortion of a distant object, one would only need to analyze the light itself -- specifically, its frequency.

If heat / mirage were 'bending' the light, then it would be split into a spectrum since different frequencies refract by different amounts; whereas gravitational lensing acts on all frequencies evenly.

But I get your point: how can a vacuum be dense? I shouldn't have said 'dense.' Cool air is dense; space isn't air. *bonk* Just wish you would've overlooked that rather than trying to provoke an argument. Thanks anyway; maybe next time we can lock horns.

 

[Drakkith]

Wow, I think you took my post WAAY over the top lol. None of that was argumentative, but simply saying that I think relativity explains it perfectly. That isn't "prediction and beliefs" as you stated, but is in fact principles and laws that have been proven by evidence.