Measuring Starlight Deflection During the 2017 Eclipse: Completing the Experiment that Made Einstein Famous

press release:

Lecture by Dr. Corey Bruns, UW-Whitewater Mathematics Dept.

In 1919, Sir Arthur Eddington traveled to Africa to test Einstein's theory of General Relativity; specifically, a prediction that the Sun's gravity would bend starlight by about twice as much as Newtonian physics would predict. This could be measured by using a telescope to image stars near the sun during a total solar eclipse. He was able to take 3 images, and using 2 of them, announced that Einstein's theory was confirmed. Subsequent analysis of all 3 images indicates that this conclusion wasn't clear cut.  Similar experiments were carried out in 1922, 1947, 1952, 1954, and 1973 without much improvement in results.  A space-based telescope, which does not need an eclipse, was able to measure the effect with very high precision in the 1980s; so the science is settled.  What's not settled is if it is possible to measure this effect from the ground - is it possible to get better precision with 21st century technology? Dr. Bruns viewed the August 21 total solar eclipse with modern equipment to do a sort of historical reenactment/experiment. Can we use statistics on hundreds of images to see starlight deflection from the ground?