Einstein's Theory Passes Strict New Test

FiReaNGeL writes with an excerpt from a story at e! Science News: "Taking advantage of a unique cosmic configuration, astronomers have measured an effect predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity in the extremely strong gravity of a pair of superdense neutron stars. Essentially, the famed physicist's 93-year-old theory passed yet another test. Scientists at McGill University used the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to do a four-year study of a double-star system unlike any other known in the Universe. The system is a pair of neutron stars, both of which are seen as pulsars that emit lighthouse-like beams of radio waves."

Comments

Re:For us plebs...

[CDMA_Demo]

in summary:

1. GE says two objects can cause a wobble in each other's axes due to gravity
2. Measurement of this wobble wasn't possible earlier
3. With this star system, since they are massive and pulsate, and that they are aligned in a manner that makes a measurement possible, astronomers took the plunge
4. Prof...proved.

hypothesis - 1 of 4 scientific terms

[MyNymWasTaken]

The word you are searching for is hypothesis.

There are 4 terms that need to be understood in the realm of science - hypothesis, theory, law & fact. They are all separate & distinct, except for the only progression that occurs - hypothesis => theory.

A fact is what has been carefully observed.
A law describes that observation.
A hypothesis is a proposal intended to explain that observation.
A theory seeks to explain that observation & has been confirmed by considerable evidence and has endured all attempts to disprove it.

example:

Fact
Objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass.

Law
http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/GBSSCI/PHYS/Class/circles/u6l3c1.gif

Hypothesis => Theory
Mass causes a curvature of spacetime which creates the effect of gravity.

Re:hypothesis - 1 of 4 scientific terms

[Ardeaem]

The parent is not quite right.

An observation is some type of measurement. We could call this a fact if we like, but observation is better because is acknowledges the role of the observer in a way that "fact" does not.

A law is some invariance across multiple observations. See, for instance, Kepler's laws. (They do not, as the parent says, "describe" observations, but rather they postulate invariant aspects of planetary motion)

A hypothesis is a testable prediction based on naturalistic explanation of lawful behavior, typically of smaller scope than a theory and untested or weakly tested. Theories can also lead to hypotheses, through logical implication (ie, "my theory predicts that X, therefore I hypothesize X will occur in this experiment")

A theory is a unified, parsimonious, testable, naturalistic explanation for entire sets of laws. For instance, Newton's theory of mechanics explained all of Kepler's laws of planetary motion, and lawful behavior on earth as well.

Observation: These objects that I have dropped all appear to fall at the same rate regardless of mass, within measurement error

Law: All objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass

Hypothesis and theory Newton's theory of mechanics, or Einstein's theory of relativity

Re:For us plebs...

[Raenex]

Now THAT is a summary

Actually I recommend reading the article. It's short, understandable, and contains other cool facts about these neutron stars.

Also, as for that last "proved" bit, the article ends with:

"It's not quite right to say that we have now 'proven' General Relativity," Breton said. "However, so far, Einstein's theory has passed all the tests that have been conducted, including ours."