Eclipses make the sun's gravitational light bending visible

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During night-like conditions created during the totality of a solar eclipse, like that of April 8, planets and stars are visible. Venus and Jupiter, bracketing the sun, will be very noticeable, while Mercury will be rather faint.

There won't be any bright stars near the sun during this eclipse, but, amazingly, dim stars near it will appear displaced by a small amount due to its gravity. This displacement, and the motion of Mercury, were the earliest evidence in the early 20th century that confirmed Einstein's new theory of gravity. These observations also led directly to the prediction of black holes.

With the amazing power of modern telescopes, our "best of" astronomy websites have abundant evidence of gravity bending light, acting like a lens. If the alignment of a background object with a gravity lens is almost perfect, an "Einstein ring" of light appears like a halo around it.

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