AST 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Escape Velocity, Hyperbola, Great Circle

• School: Stony Brook University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: AST 101
• Professor: Jin Koda

Document Summary

Gravity bends light waves so the waves can hit the person at different points. Matter distorts spacetime in the same way that heavy weights distort a rubber sheet. Einstein said that space is curved and lights travel through the curved space . The universe may have no boundaries and no center but may still have finite. Rapid changes of motion can cause gravitational waves. Space and time linked in a 4d combo called spacetime volume. A spacetime diagram shows an object"s position in space at different times. The path of an orbiting object usually spirals through space time as it moves forward in. We can move in three dimensions (x,y,z), time (t) can be considered one. Space and time look different from different perspectives in spacetime. Great circles are the shortest paths to travel on a sphere to get somewhere. Newton viewed gravity as a mysterious action at a distance.