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During a solar eclipse, is it possible to detect the bending of starlight by the Sun using amateur astronomy equipment? If so, is it possible to show that the amount of bending agrees with general relativity but not Newtonian physics?
My idea is to pick a star that's close to the Sun during totality, predict its altitude and azimuth without accounting for gravitational lensing, and find a star that passes by the same altitude and azimuth during the night before the eclipse. Center the star, wait until the eclipse, take a photo, and see how far the star in it is from the exact center. How accurate is this method with, say, an eight-inch telescope?
My idea is to pick a star that's close to the Sun during totality, predict its altitude and azimuth without accounting for gravitational lensing, and find a star that passes by the same altitude and azimuth during the night before the eclipse. Center the star, wait until the eclipse, take a photo, and see how far the star in it is from the exact center. How accurate is this method with, say, an eight-inch telescope?