Simultaneity of events in 2 dimensions

[techdirect]

Hi all,

I am not a physicist. Some engineer friends of mine and I have a question about special relativity in two dimensions. To set it up, there are 2 lights floating in space parallel to the x-axis and a spaceship is traveling at .8c flying parallel to the y-axis towards the midpoint of the line connecting the lights. Then at some time, t, an observer, o1, between the lights at the midpoint flashes both of them simultaneously.

I drew a quick diagram which is attached.

1. The observer o1 will see both flash simultaneously

2. At a different time t', the crew of the spaceship will also see both flash simultaneously because of the symmetry of the problem.

Is our understanding correct?

 

[tiny-tim]

Welcome to PF!

Hi techdirect! Welcome to PF!

1. The observer o1 will see both flash simultaneously

2. At a different time t', the crew of the spaceship will also see both flash simultaneously because of the symmetry of the problem.

Is our understanding correct?

Completely!

(and, more generally, even if the spaceship was not in line with o, but was still moving parallel to the y-axis, even though it would not see the flashes at the same time, it would calculate that they happened at the same time)