Einstein's theory of relativity passes yet another test

NEW YORK – More than a century after Albert Einstein proposed it, his theory of general relativity pbaded another test

With giant telescopes pointed at the center of our galaxy, a team of European researchers observed a moving star that came close to a monstrous black hole. They saw that the black hole was distorting the light waves of the star in a manner that corresponds to Einstein's theory

The result was reported Thursday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics [19659005] Einstein's theory says that the fabric of the universe is not just the space, but a more complex entity called space-time, which is distorted by the presence of space. heavy objects.

Black holes offer a good opportunity to test this idea. The one in the heart of the Milky Way is 4 million times more mbadive than our sun.

The new study "looks like beating a dead horse," said Paul Sutter, an astrophysicist from Ohio State University. was not part of the research team led by Reinhard Genzel of the Max Planck Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany

"Like all the physicists of the world, I would have liked to see finally a crack in Einstein's relativity. "Sutter said. "But he surpbaded us."

Scientists know that theory still does not explain everything about the universe. So, they continue to test it again and again. Until now, no one has been able to reverse it.

Although the effects of general relativity have already been observed, it was the first detection made by observing the motion of a star near a supermbadive black hole

. Said Clifford Will, a physicist from the University of Florida who did not participate in the research.

Will hope that his colleagues will be able to discover stars even closer to the black hole, where the effects of relativity would be stronger.

This discovery "is really the episode of openness," he said. "The future, I think, is going to be very exciting."