How does gravity actually influence objects and light in space?

Gravity is like a big, invisible rubber band that pulls things toward each other.

Imagine you have a trampoline. When you jump on it, it stretches and bends. That's kind of what gravity does in space, gravity makes space bend around massy objects like planets or stars.

If you drop a ball from your hand, it falls to the ground because Earth is pulling it. That’s how gravity works on Earth. In space, planets, moons, and even spaceships are pulled toward each other in the same way, like they’re dancing with an invisible partner.

Now imagine a flashlight shining through a stretched rubber band. The light might bend a little because of the stretch. In space, gravity can do something similar to light. When light passes near a big object like the Sun, it bends, just like a rubber band stretches around something heavy.

So gravity doesn’t magic things around; it gently pulls and bends everything in its path, from balls on Earth all the way to light beams in space!