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BitWiz
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If I travel toward a star 100 ly distance (measured when at "rest") at a low % of c, the star will continue to appear about 100 ly away.
If within 1 year, I accelerate to γ=2 (about 87% c), time dilation will halve my experience of the trip's duration, and to compensate, distance compression (in the direction of motion) will prevent me from observing that *I* am moving faster than light, i.e. that I'm managing to travel 100 LY in less than 100 experienced years. Instead, my target will (appear to) be about 50 ly away. If I have this correct, then:
Question 1: The target star has "moved" from 100 ly to 50 ly away in our mutual frame. Is this an optical artifact or is the object really closer?
Question 2: The target star has (appeared to) move 50 ly toward me in the space of a single year. How?
Question 3: Various video simulations on the web show the optical effects of accelerating toward an object at a high percentrages of c, and the initial movement of the target object appears (visually?) to be *away* from the observer during acceleration. How does this reconcile with the above, i.e. if the remaining distance decreases proportional to gamma as you accelerate, why does the target appear to be receding?
Question 4: If Question 3 above is due to an optical artifact, then where is my target "really?"
Thanks for your time,
Chris
If within 1 year, I accelerate to γ=2 (about 87% c), time dilation will halve my experience of the trip's duration, and to compensate, distance compression (in the direction of motion) will prevent me from observing that *I* am moving faster than light, i.e. that I'm managing to travel 100 LY in less than 100 experienced years. Instead, my target will (appear to) be about 50 ly away. If I have this correct, then:
Question 1: The target star has "moved" from 100 ly to 50 ly away in our mutual frame. Is this an optical artifact or is the object really closer?
Question 2: The target star has (appeared to) move 50 ly toward me in the space of a single year. How?
Question 3: Various video simulations on the web show the optical effects of accelerating toward an object at a high percentrages of c, and the initial movement of the target object appears (visually?) to be *away* from the observer during acceleration. How does this reconcile with the above, i.e. if the remaining distance decreases proportional to gamma as you accelerate, why does the target appear to be receding?
Question 4: If Question 3 above is due to an optical artifact, then where is my target "really?"
Thanks for your time,
Chris
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