Wouldn't the earth as a mass bend space-time

I've read that things with a significant amount of mass will bend space-time. So if you consider that the earth or even the galaxy as a whole is one giant thing of mass wouldn't we only be able to observe the universe in a distorted way?

Yes, it bends space-time. But the effect is so very very small, it is practically non-existent. The space part of the bending, for example, is only 0.0000000015 degrees -- much too small for even the best telescopes to care about. The effect of the Sun and Jupiter, however, are much larger and are compensated for in professional observations.

The time part is more interesting, at 0.5 seconds per year. That's large enough that it needs to be included in analysis of the orbits of the planets and space probes.

The Earth does curve space-time, and so does everything you see around you. We can't see it directly because it is a subtle four dimensional effect, but we can see its effects. Atomic clocks speed up in space partly because curved space-time around the Earth causes time to slow down. The orbit of Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is a little off of what it should be according to Newtonian mechanics (known even before Einstein's time), but it is perfectly explained by imagining the Sun forms a 'bowl' in space-time. The first validation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity was in 1919 when astronomers observed starlight near the Sun during a Solar Eclipse, and noticed the stars appeared displaced from their actual position as the light travelled by the Sun's gravitational well. Groups of galaxies can magnify the light behind them, in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.

Yes, it does. That's why the clocks on satellites run faster than the cloks on the surface of the Earth do. The clocks on GPS satellites have to be adujsted th periodically or the GPS location on Earth would drift by a foot every 3 weeks. Our ovservation of the universe is fine, because we can adjust for the distortions caused by the curvature of space time. IF you choose to think that YOUR ovservations are a delusion because of the time delaycaused the by the speed of light in an atmosphere, you can, but, IMO, it's sad that the paranoia created by your own ignorance is distorting YOUR perspective.

As I understand it, the Universe is flat on the large scale but mass bends and warps space-time locally. We can's see warped space. Like the earth's orbit around the Sun, we don't actually see space being bent and warped. It's probably a different dimension.

Best regards

I am sure someone else will answer that quite well but I was thinking, "a significant amount of mass will bend space-time" That could start loads of funny jokes about that! 'My sister-in-law is SO BIG...' ya, I bet some people can figure out SEVERAL funny jokes.

It does.

Rwad here:http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sci…

Yes...but scientist use calculations to compensate for the distortion

Yes it does.