Caption: "A high accuracy/precision test of general relativity by the Cassini spacecraft (1997--2017) (artist's conception): radio waves sent between the Earth and the Cassini spacecraft (1997--2017) (qualitatively illustrated by the green wave) are bent by the warping of spacetime (qualitatively illustrated blue lines) due to the Sun's mass. That is, the Sun's mass causes the Euclidean space to distort and have curvature as qualitatively illustrated by the blue lines. The radio waves follow a geodesic in spacetime which causes them to angle around the Sun." (Somewhat edited.)
The superimposed contour lines illustrate the Flamm paraboloid, a common way of illustrating curved space. The Flamm paraboloid does NOT prove gravitational lensing and is really just a visual aid for remembering how gravitational lensing acts. For more on the Flamm paraboloid, see Black hole file: black_hole_schwarzschild_flamm_paraboloid.html.
Credit/Permission: NASA,
circa or before 2006 /
Public domain.
Image link: Wikipedia:
File:Cassini-science-br.jpg.
Local file: local link: gravitational_lensing_cassini.html.
File: Relativity file:
gravitational_lensing_cassini.html.