I was hoping that some genius could explain what we would observe in the universe around us in the following hypothetical scenario in which the earth itself were traveling at or near the speed of light. I am confident that somebody can tell me that my hypothetical situation cannot exist, but they are not really the point here, though I don't mind being proven dumb.
Scenario: Say that our solar system, jointly with the Orion Spur in which it resides, is traveling at near the speed of light as it prepares to merge with the adjacent Perseus Arm of our galaxy (some 5,000-10,000 ly away). How does that change how we see the Perseus Arm? What do we see as far as the rest of the Milky Way galaxy? How does our speed change what we see in distant galaxies? Or in other words, does the Milky Way galaxy as a whole seem to move faster or slower due to our speed? Do other galaxies seem to be moving faster or slower than their actual motion?
Hope that makes sense and hope somebody besides me finds it fascinating to consider light speed's impact on our perception.
EDIT1: I guess a component of this question is regarding red shifts and blue shifts, as well as how our observation of star evolution and galactic evolution would be impacted. Such as, would distant galaxies appear to be evolving faster or slower than actual and whether we would think they were moving toward or away from us, just due to our own near c motion?
EDIT2: I have reduced my scenarios to just one, as all responders are consistently telling me that such is better. Hope that the change aids the dialogue. My apology as a newby to this forum.
No comments:
Post a Comment