I want to know if (hypothetically) a star appears out of nowhere at a certain distance (say 20 light seconds) away from me, how long will it take for me to get the feel of it's gravity? Will I know it before it's light will reach me (20 seconds)? or after?
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1possible duplicate of Time taken for gravity of a distant object to interact with a newly created particle? – Mar 12 '15 at 20:28
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from wikipedia "The speed of gravitational waves in the general theory of relativity is equal to the speed of light in vacuum, c." so the time taken to feel the effects of the star is the distance you are from the star divided by the speed of light.
so you should feel it at exactly the same time as its light reaches your eyes (20 sec)