Quote:
Originally Posted by gzhpcu
Isn't the space around the sun like a gravitational well? (the old rubber sheet and ball bearing analogy). If so, why would radiating light change directions? Seems to me it would still be going straight (up the well and away...).
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The picture in the opening post shows it perfectly well. A radial ray will remain straight, with a small redshift as a result of the gravity. The slanted one in the illustration bends for the same reason that one from a background star bends. The gravitational field does not care where the light came from. If it is not perfectly radial with respect to the Sun's center, it will bend.