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Optical and Radio Measurements of the Gravitational Bending of Light Around the Sun

-- | April 26, 2014

Question: VLBA measurements have been used to confirm gravitational bending of radio waves by the Sun in confirmation of General relativity of 1″.75 prediction. Most optical observations are usually higher than this. What amount of VLBA data measurements show a 1″.97 bending by the Sun similar to the finding in the solar eclipse expedition of 1919 at Sobral, Brazil but which may have been edited out by software as being anomalous? — Akinbo

Answer: Most scientists who have studied the experiments designed to test Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity believe that the optical observations, starting with the Eddington results from the observations made during the Sobral expedition, suffer from considerable uncertaintities. The observations made with the VLBA, at radio wavelengths, are generally believed to be the most accurate. They do, in fact, confirm Einstein’s prediction of the bending of light around the Sun.

Jeff Mangum

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