Sure enough, this light was bent by the mass of the sun, confirming Einstein's theory.
And they can be bent, allowing the light to go through the lenses at the correct angle.
The way distant light is bent around galaxies hints that they should have more mass than can be seen.
Prof Simon White likens it to the way light is bent as it passes through the lumpiness of an old glass window pane.
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The bending creates a lensing effect in the same way that light is bent through glass or plastic in a microscope or your eyeglasses.
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"Einstein's theory of general relativity tells us that mass bends space and time, so when light comes toward us through the Universe, if it passes some dark matter, its light gets bent and the image we see gets bent and distorted, " Dr Heymans told the meeting.
The 26-year-old joins new signings Paulo da Silva, Lee Cattermole, Lorik Cana, Fraizer Campbell and Darren Bent at the Stadium of Light this summer.
This refraction eliminates both the red end of the spectrum (red light is not bent enough by the air layer to form part of the second image) and the blue frequencies (which are scattered away: this selective scattering is why the sky is blue).
On the stage, the brilliant, otherworldly glare of revelation contrasted with the warm, realistic library light in which the scholars bent over their notebooks and struggled with theories.
Black Cats manager Steve Bruce may have been surprised by the impact Bent has made at the Stadium of Light, admitting "he's probably a better footballer than I thought he was".
"Light coming toward us from a distant galaxy is bent by the gravity of a lump of matter in the middle, " explained Catherine Heymans of the University of Edinburgh.
England are light on strikers for the France friendly, with Darren Bent, Bobby Zamora, Jermain Defoe and Wayne Rooney having all been ruled out.
This exploits one of the predictions of Einstein's general theory of relativity: that the path of a beam of light (which is a straight line in empty space) is bent inwards by the gravity of a massive object.
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Bruce has made Cattermole his fifth summer signing following Darren Bent, Lorik Cana, Fraizer Campbell and Paulo Da Silva to the Stadium of Light.
Moretti more properly sees things in a different light for the rise of tech behemoths in the Golden State multiplying jobs for those lacking a technological bent, not to mention tech jobs for those who do.
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