"Greg Neill" wrote in message
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"AngleWyrm" wrote in message
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"AngleWyrm" wrote in message
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Good old Newton and Kepler (assumed infinite "c") work just
fine for most of the bodies of the solar system for practical
accuracies. The positions are calculated and adjusted for
"light time" for the time it takes light to travel from the
"actual position" to the observer.

Yea, Newton; the Moon is travelling just fast enough to fall around the
Earth. Nice. Problem with his idea was when he said (in part) that gravity
is proportional to the mass of the objects...Looked good on paper until
Galileo dropped a cannon ball and a bullet from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
"Hey guys: They hit the ground at the same time!" So much for gravity being
proportional to the mass of the objects.

In General Relativity, it turns out that bodies interact as
though they were being attracted by their partner's "forward"
(future) position when they are orbiting. Van Flandern has
been called on his incorrect assessment of the theory.

So here's what little I know of General Relativity: The space-time continuum
is a sort of four-dimensional universe, and matter/energy travel along in
this existence on "straight" lines through this coordinate system, called
geodesics. Rather than any given object's course being curved, GR says it is
distances & time which become distorted by matter/energy, that space-time is
warped by it's contents.

Is it just me, or is it just a matter of point-of-view? Whether we call it a
distortion in space-time, or call it a distortion in the course of objects,
the result is the same, yes? Seems a little cleaner to me to distort an
object's geodesic; doesn't invoke a mysterious fabric of space-time to
distort.

I lose touch when they tell me changes in velocity are communicated by
gravity waves which travel at the speed of light. Then they go hunting for
black holes, dark matter and gravitons, and build Laser Interferometer
Gravitational Wave Observatories.

Could it be that this idea of bodies interacting with the gravitation from a
future location, that arrives at light speed delays, is just a wee stretch
of the chalkboard?