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starlight bent by gravitational fields

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philra | 12:00 Sat 17th Nov 2012 | Science
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Is it possible that we are seeing the same stars or galaxies at different points in the sky and at different ages because some light from the star has reached us direct without any gravitational interference, but other light emitted in a different direction has been bent on its way round the cosmos due to gravitational interference and has taken much longer to reach us and appears to come from a different point in the sky? Or is this a stupid question?
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It is a stupid question.
Gravitational lensing is only appreciable for very distant galaxies. For stars in our own galaxy and even for nearby galaxies, such as Andromeda, the effect is measurable but negligible.
So it wasn't so stupid, after all. I'm glad of that.
If you read the original question you will see that the OP was not proposing gravitational lensing but more of a gravitational pinball.
It is possible to get double images because of gravitational lensing but they are only separated by the tiniest fraction of a degree.

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