Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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The gravity of the Sun bends the path of light, and we can take advantage of that to turn it into the world’s most powerful telescope. It won’t be easy, but if we get it to work we could make a portrait of nearby exoplanets, creating direct images of their surfaces. This is the Solar Gravitational Lens, and it’s the telescope of the future that we could build today.

0:00 Intro
1:23 Bending Light Without Lenses
6:58 The Resolution Revolution
14:17 The Solar Gravitational Lens
21:36 Could We Do It?
28:09 Conclusion

Written and hosted by Paul M. Sutter
Editing by Poncho Productions