[X] My Assistant

[Erik]

According to Einstein's theories, as anything having a mass in the universe, the Sun bends space-time basically in two ways (as far as I've understood) : by stretching it towards its center of gravity, and by dragging it along the direction of its rotation (Lense-Thirring / frame-dragging). Basically, it means that flying towards a massive celestial body (planet, star...) will increase your speed and dilate time, and if the mass is extreme (black hole / cf. "Interstellar" movie), it will strech your body ("spaghettification") and somehow send your "slender-self" in the future of the universe.

The gravitational field of the Sun extends far beyond the limits of the solar system, up to 1 light-year, that is 2104 times the distance between the Sun and Neptune, the closest star, Proxima Centauri, being located at 4,2 ly from the Sun.

Some 3d fanciful/artistic representations of the Sun and the curved space-time :

[fredk]

There are lots of ways to accurately represent the curvature of spacetime (the simple rubber sheet not being one!). The curvature is described mathematically by several numerical values (components of the metric or curvature tensors) that vary over space and time. So there are all sorts of ways to plot these. Eg, plot surfaces where one of these values (components) take constant values, eg the three surfaces where some "x" takes the value 1, 2, and 3. These would be akin to isoclines/isotherms/isobars/etc. The tricky part is choosing the surfaces to reveal useful information about the spacetime.

An example of a technical approach is in this paper, which includes lots of plots for inspiration (like the lawn sprinkler spacetime!).

[Erik]

There are lots of ways to accurately represent the curvature of spacetime (the simple rubber sheet not being one!). The curvature is described mathematically by several numerical values (components of the metric or curvature tensors) that vary over space and time. So there are all sorts of ways to plot these. Eg, plot surfaces where one of these values (components) take constant values, eg the three surfaces where some "x" takes the value 1, 2, and 3. These would be akin to isoclines/isotherms/isobars/etc. The tricky part is choosing the surfaces to reveal useful information about the spacetime.

An example of a technical approach is in this paper, which includes lots of plots for inspiration (like the lawn sprinkler spacetime!).

thanks fredk for your explanations and link, will check it out