GRAVITY ACCORDING TO EINSTEIN
The merger of two black holes creates gravitational waves that propagate outwards through space-time
Webb’s ‘triple’ image of a supernova exploding in a distant galaxy, obtained through gravitational lensing
Although Newton’s theory of gravity proved good at explaining the vast majority of astronomical observations, it had a major weakness. In 1905, Einstein produced his theory of special relativity, which says that nothing can travel through space faster than the speed of light. In Newton’s theory, however, gravity is seen as a force between two objects that is transmitted instantaneously over any distance. For this reason, Einstein realised that a new theory of gravity had to be found that was consistent with his universal speed limit.