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MIT Physics Lecture Series:e How Gravity Delays, Deflects, Distorts and Bends Our View of the Astronomical Universe
Professor Paul Schechter
Wed Jan 19, 01:30-02:30pm, 6-120
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
In almost (but not quite) the same way that gravity alters the trajectories of moving objects, it also alters the trajectories of light rays. Gravity refracts light in the same way that glass does.
When light traveling toward the Earth from a distant astronomical object passes close to a massive object (say a galaxy) along the way, it is delayed, deflected, distorted and bent. This phenomenon (called gravitational lensing) is entirely analogous to the phenomenon of terrestrial mirages. It can used to determine the distribution of both luminous and dark matter in the universe. The theory and practice of gravitational lensing will be described.
Contact: Nancy Boyce, 4-315, 253-4461, nboyce@mit.edu
Sponsor: Physics
Latest update: 14-Dec-2010
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