gravity - Is there a delay in the effect of gravitational force?

Let's suppose there is a very massive object and a small object that are 1 lightyear apart.

The massive object is large enough that the gravitational force pulling the small object is easily noticeable.

Suppose (never mind how) that through some freaky event the massive object suddenly disappears or is suddenly transported to some part of the universe too far away to have noticeable gravitational effect on the small object.

Since nothing travels faster than light, does it take 1 year or more for the small object to "figure out" that the massive object is gone and to stop accelerating towards where it used to be? Or does the magical disappearance of the massive object have immediately observable effects on the small object?

To put it more concisely, is there a delay in the effect of gravitational force?

Answer

Yes.

$c$ is the highest possible speed for light/any information to travel. So for a person 1 light year away, he wouldn't even realise that the object has disappeared, until the light carrying that information has travelled there.

You can also think about this another way. Gravitational waves (which researchers today are trying very hard to detect) can only travel at the speed of light. When the object vanishes it causes disturbances in the space-time continuum , but these disturbances are also clocked at the highest possible speed of $c$.

So there is a time delay.