Measurement of the Solar Gravitational Deflection of Radio Waves Using Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry
Abstract
We made very-long-baseline-interferometry observations of the extragalactic radio sources 3C273B and 3C279 to measure the gravitational deflection of radio waves by the Sun. Cross-correlation of data recorded at antennas in California and Massachusetts at 2, 8, and 23 GHz during a ten-day period surrounding the October 1987 solar occultation of 3C279 yielded plasma-corrected group delays, from which we obtained γ = 0.9996 +/- 0.0017 (estimated standard error), corresponding to a gravitational deflection 0.9998 +/- 0.0008 times that predicted by general relativity.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- August 1995
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1439
- Bibcode:
- 1995PhRvL..75.1439L