Originally posted by jjw:
Stars near the Sun? You no doubt mean stars we might see that are behind the Sun with reference to the positions of the Sun and the Earth. If your statement is correct (doubted accuracy) are you suggesting the/that satellite is not in the Solar System?
satalites that are outside of the atmosphere are able to see stars that are close to the sun. they do this by blocking off the suns light from the cameras. most of the time they study the sun's atmophere, but they have also been used to study the effect of the suns gravity on light.
here is a gem you might not have heard of. Gravity will bend light. A star that is near the edge of the sun, but actually on the other side, will be visible before it actually is physically able to be seen, because the sun's gravity will bend the light coming from that sun. Then as the line between the observer (satalite in this instance) and the star moves farther from the edge of the sun (more visible) it appears to move a small fraction of a degree. The star does not actually move, it only appears to be as the light from it is not being bent as much. How do they know which star it is? by the "fingerprint" of of it's visible spectrum. you see, all stars have their own unique spectrum. For the most part they are the same, but each one varies a small amount. that is how they can differate them by computer. If gravite was able to change the spectrum, it would show up when they were tracking the star as the light was bent by the sun. The earth is not strong enough to bend light enough to be measure, yet according to you, its sufficent to alter the spectrum of the light, causing it to redshift. Please pray tell, if the sun's gravity is not strong enough to alter the stars spectrum, how is the earth's able to do so.
To me that seems like a reasonable statement if the issue related to a measure of the Suns gravitation compared to the Earth's. I said that the light from distant sources had to pass through the "high density" level of gravity in the earths location before we measure the speed or investigate its properties. I was not makin a comparison of Sun vs Earth gravitation.
how is the light coming from the opposite directions from the sun suppose to be going though the same "high density level of gravity" that the light passing near the sun would? If gravity has a density (i dont think that is the term scientist use for the increase in gravity near a gravity source), then the density would be higher near the sun that it would be away from it.
"Deh, I fail to see where that comment comes from unless you want to compare a strong gravitational field with a strong wind- in which even I think you have a lot more of the latter than you are entitled to.
perhaps you should read some of the other post in this thread. it was stated that it was the wind speed not air pressure that caused the change in sound level, which was used as an example. the one that made that mistake has corrected it.
Consider, but do not ask me for the answer; why do the planets closest to the Sun revolve around the Sun faster than those planets farther from the Sun? Is gravitation of the Sun the most likely cause? If the Suns gravitation is the potential cause is the effect most severe near the surface of the Sun?
you make this statement in the same post where you claim that the effect of gravity near the sun would not be different that the effect of gravity away from it? how can you not see the gulf in thinking here.
