Does Light Slow Down During Long-Distance Space Travel?

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SUMMARY

The speed of light in a vacuum remains constant at 300,000 km/s regardless of distance, as confirmed by current scientific understanding. The discussion references the cosmological redshift phenomenon, where light from distant galaxies appears redshifted due to the universe's expansion, but this does not imply a change in the speed of light itself. Misinterpretations may arise from confusing redshift with variations in light speed. The British study mentioned does not support the idea that light slows down over long distances.

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eha
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Is it true? I've heard this news couple years ago: Not for the short distances but during long distance travels light slow downs once in a while. İt sounds logical to me, we shouldn't expect the light will move at the same speed all the times and everywhere. During it's billions of years travel it's speed might drop a little bit every once in a while. I remember this was a british based study but I'm not sure. Anybody knows more about this subject? Thanks in advance.
 
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eha said:
Is it true? I've heard this news couple years ago: Not for the short distances but during long distance travels light slow downs once in a while. İt sounds logical to me, we shouldn't expect the light will move at the same speed all the times and everywhere. During it's billions of years travel it's speed might drop a little bit every once in a while. I remember this was a british based study but I'm not sure. Anybody knows more about this subject? Thanks in advance.

No, the speed of light in vacuum is a constant. You may be misremembering the cosmological redshift: because of the expansion of the universe, distant galaxies are moving faster away from us than nearer ones, so their light is more heavily redshifted. This would mean that if you communicate with aliens on a far-away planet, those aliens would see photons of lower frequency and energy than someone on Earth. However, the aliens' measurements would give the same answer for the speed of light: 300 000 km/s (but in whatever units they use).
 

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