1919 solar eclipse. Image 1 of 3. This set of images, taken by the British astronomer Arthur Eddington (1882-1944), confirmed Einstein's theory of gen

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1919 solar eclipse. Image 1 of 3. This set of images, taken by the British astronomer Arthur Eddington (1882-1944), confirmed Einstein's theory of general relativity. The stars near the Sun appear slightly shifted because their light is curved by its gravitational field. This shift is only noticeable during a solar eclipse as at other times the Sun's brightness obscures the stars. This is a total solar eclipse, when the moon fits over the Sun so only its corona (atmosphere) is visible. Image taken from Principe Island, Gulf of Guinea, on 29 May 1919. For a sequence of the eclipse see R506/416-R506/418.

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Size: 4917px × 3903px
Photo credit: © ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: 19/05/1919, 1900s, 29, 1919, 20th, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, black--white, century, corona, cosmology, eclipse, eclipsing, eddington, einstein, field, gravitational, gravity, guinea, gulf, historical, history, island, monochrome, moon, principe, science, sequence, shift, shifted, solar, space, star, stars, sun, system, total, totality