“Even the effects of gravity are limited to and travel at light speed.”
I’m not sure that is the case. If it were then the gravitational force between the sun and planets wouldn’t be perpendicular to their orbits but have a component opposing their motion. The result would be (relatively) rapidly decaying orbits.
The ability of gravity to act instantly I think is one of the more baffling properties of the universe.
Not true IMO since gravity acts as a field. The moment the field “arrives” at the planet it creates a force that is directed from the planet’s center of mass back towards the sun. As long as the sun stays put during the eight minute transit time everything works out.
So you're saying gravity acts as if it were a rigid "arm" that connects two bodies, as opposed to something that propagates through the intervening space between them? i.e., like flying cars in an amusement park ride physically attached to the rotating mechanism at the center?
I knew I should have read further on this thread. This was exactly what I was talking about in my previous post.