The Conversation

Warp factor: we've observed a spinning star that drags the very fabric of space and time

30-01-2020 Author: Matthew Bailes, ARC Laureate Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology., Swinburne University of Technology

A white dward (centre) and its companion pulsar make for an excellent natural gravitational laboratory.Mark Myers/OzGrav

One of the predictions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity is that any spinning body drags the very fabric of space-time in its vicinity around with it. This is known as “frame-dragging”.

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