A citizen scientist validates General Relativity.

[Anomalocaris]

Very cool:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy...xperiment/


But, for those who do not want to read the whole article (or, part of it), here's the first paragraph:

In the August 2016 issue of Sky & Telescope, I explained that I was going to set up an experiment to measure the gravitational deflection of stars one year later. I did go to Wyoming for the Great American Eclipse, and I experienced perfect conditions that led to an incredibly precise result! This is the first time — since Sir Arthur Eddington traveled to Africa to witness the 1919 eclipse — that the experiment went just as planned, with no weather or equipment problems. While there is no new science in this result, being able to accomplish this very difficult experiment for the first time in nearly 100 years was a wonderful experience.

And, an image:

I find it utterly impossible to believe this experiment was not successfully performed emany times, either directly or incidentally, in the intervening 100 years.

If that were indeed the case, then eddington’s original experiment would have been dismissed as a fluke.

Also, distinguishing a positional difference of 1.7 arc seconds is not trivial with amateur equipment and i wonder whether it was relativity or wistfulness that underlie this particular observation.

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For this, nothing better than a german Physicist....

Whatever happened to Alex K? Last I heard he was busy with teaching teenagers physics. Hmmm can't imagine a tougher job

Teaching teenagers physics is easily done.  Just drop two of them out of a window and they learn Doppler effect, constant gravitation acceleration, interchange of kinetic and potential energy, and inelastic collisions, all in just a few seconds.