Book contents
- Star Noise
- Star Noise
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A New Window on the Universe
- 2 Radio Emission from the Sun and Stars
- 3 Radio Galaxies
- 4 Quasars and AGN
- 5 Radio Astronomy, Cosmology, and Cosmic Evolution
- 6 The Cosmic Microwave Background
- 7 Interplanetary Scintillations, Pulsars, Neutron Stars, and Fast Radio Bursts
- 8 Interstellar Atoms, Molecules, and Cosmic Masers
- 9 Radio Studies of the Moon and Planets
- 10 Testing Gravity
- 11 If You Build It, They Will Come
- 12 Expecting the Unexpected
- Notes
- Glossary: Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Journal Abbreviations Used
- Bibliography
- Suggested Reading
- Index
10 - Testing Gravity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2023
- Star Noise
- Star Noise
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 A New Window on the Universe
- 2 Radio Emission from the Sun and Stars
- 3 Radio Galaxies
- 4 Quasars and AGN
- 5 Radio Astronomy, Cosmology, and Cosmic Evolution
- 6 The Cosmic Microwave Background
- 7 Interplanetary Scintillations, Pulsars, Neutron Stars, and Fast Radio Bursts
- 8 Interstellar Atoms, Molecules, and Cosmic Masers
- 9 Radio Studies of the Moon and Planets
- 10 Testing Gravity
- 11 If You Build It, They Will Come
- 12 Expecting the Unexpected
- Notes
- Glossary: Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Journal Abbreviations Used
- Bibliography
- Suggested Reading
- Index
Summary
One important area where radio astronomers confirmed theoretical predictions was in tests of General Relativity. Radio interferometer measurements made during the 1970s were able to confirm Einstein’s prediction of the gravitational bending of light to an accuracy better than 1 percent, or an order of magnitude better than the controversial classical optical tests made during the time of a solar eclipse. In 1965, MIT Professor Irwin Shapiro suggested and subsequently confirmed a new fourth test of General Relativity resulting from the excess delay of the reflected radar signal from a planet as the signal passes close to the Sun. Radio observations have also found Einstein’s “gravitational lensing” by which a massive cluster of galaxies can form multiple radio images of a background galaxy or quasar. Observations of small periodic deviations in the time of arrival of pulsar pulses at the Arecibo Observatory led Princeton University graduate student Russell Hulse and his supervisor Joe Taylor to the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for the first experimental evidence for the predicted existence of gravitational radiation.
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- Star Noise: Discovering the Radio Universe , pp. 239 - 258Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023