2006-10-09 16:00:29 · 6 answers · asked by donovans240z 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It can be used to focus small and slow moving objects, YES, but not light. NASA used several planets to divert Galileo into a new trajectory.
2006-10-09 16:09:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The answer is yes, although it would be absurdly weak and therefore useless for most applications.
Even the moon has sufficient gravity to prove Einstein's assertion that gravity bends space. Under the right conditions, the Moon will occult certain stars and physicists has measured the predicted amount of bending of the star's light as it crosses the Moon's boundary.
2006-10-09 17:07:06 · answer #2 · answered by arbiter007 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Not even massive Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, has a gravitational field strong enough to bend light to a focus. The "gravitational lenses" we've found through observation (and there are quite a few of them) bend light around supermassive black holes (sometimes at the centers of galaxies), the only things we've found that are massive enough to do so.
2006-10-09 16:02:53 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
That's a very interesting question.
It is true that gravity can bend the path of light, but a "lens" is a very controlled focus. You would have to alter gravity in order to shape and control light, and we have much to learn about the nature of gravity before that could even be considered.
2006-10-09 16:05:00 · answer #4 · answered by Privratnik 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
No, light travels too fast to be perturbed by a planets gravity.
2006-10-09 16:03:24 · answer #5 · answered by accrv 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, not strong or large enough.
2006-10-09 16:01:25 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋