2015 is a 100-year General Theory of Relativity which was pioneered by renowned scientist, Albert Einstein (1915). How can one make a theory to explain an unusual phenomenon we experience daily? How Einstein can know that the curved space-time due to the presence of objects that have a large mass?
Currently we can perhaps imagine the phenomenon of the curvature of space-time through visual images that are given in fiction films such as Star Trek, Star Wars, until Interstellar. Yes, in these films depicted how their planes can travel further by utilizing the curvature of spacetime. The question is, whether it exists or curvature only mathematical calculations Einstein?
Let us try to imagine and think! We are in a universe that contains a supermassive objects such as stars, black holes, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and others, how do we know if they warps space-time? Well, Einstein described the phenomenon in a mathematical formulation that became known as Einstein's equations, which are the main equations of general relativity.
Truth Theory of General Relativity was confirmed through a lot of astronomical observations, one of which is the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. This phenomenon can be strongly associated with the observed astronomical objects much for their curvature of space-time. The idea is basically that mass warps space-time.
The curvature of space-time tells how mass moves. Since light propagates in space-time, the light will follow the curvature of space-time itself. Just as the principle of the lens or mirror that focuses light, the masses also do so. This incident became known as gravitational lensing.
Keep in mind that long before Albert Einstein formulated the Theory of General Relativity, Sir Isaac Newton actually think about the influence of gravity (mass) of the behavior of light. In the publication "Opticks" in 1704, Newton said, "Do not Bodies act upon Light at a distance, and by Reviews their action bend its Rays; and is not this action (caeteris paribus) strongest at the least distance? "
In 1801, J. Soldner investigation in determining the angle position of the stars in the case of the deflection of light. From the results of the investigation to the region near the solar surface of the angles turn obtained using the formulation of 0.83 Newton-seconds of arc (1-degree-arc seconds = 3600).
It was only in 1911, with no associated with the work done by Soldner, Einstein obtain approximately the same results. Einstein equation lowering bending light path and get a turn angle of light that passes through an object with a mass at a certain distance and find the results of two times greater than previous results.
If we assume the mass of the sun as a lens, the angle beloknya amounted to 1.74 arc-seconds. In 1914, Einstein planning an observation during the solar eclipse in Russia, to clarify the results of the calculation of the value of the angle turn around the sun before. However, these plans have failed due to World War I. In 1919, Sir Arthur Eddington finally managed to confirm the results of the General Theory of Relativity is based on observations of a total solar eclipse in Principle Island Off West Coast, Africa.
Well, for friends who are curious about this matter can be repeated by observing the phenomenon of a total solar eclipse later date March 9, 2016 which can be seen from Indonesia. Essentially, the friends try to compare the position of the stars around the sun during an eclipse with the position in the sky approximately 6 months thereafter.
In 1937, Fritz Zwicky hypothesized that if there is a very massive object (in this case the size of a galaxy), the object should be a "natural telescope". Zwicky said that if the lens does exist in nature, meaning through a process of gravitational lenses it can be used to test the General Theory of Relativity, observe objects / distant galaxies, and determine the mass of the object that acts as a lens.
In 1979, the hypothesis proposed by Zwicky can be clarified by Walsh and Wayman through the invention of the first gravitational lens, the double quasar QSO J0957 + 561. Since then, research deflection of light by the gravitational lens continues to experience growth. Developments in technology and methods of observation, the better becomes the main supporting the discovery of many gravitational lenses today. Later, the gravitational lens is applied also to discover a new planet, knowing the structure of distant galaxies, and determines the distance.
Thank you for reading this article. Written and posted by Bambang Sunarno. sunarnobambang86@gmail.com
author:
https://plus.google.com/105319704331231770941.
name: Bambang Sunarno.
http://primadonablog.blogspot.com/2016/02/100-years-gifts.html
Date Published: February 08 2016 at 12:34
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