3 ms·
> The stuff in these jets is moving towards us at a slight angle and travelling at a fair fraction of the speed of light, and the effects of relativity produce
by crazydiamond 17y ago
> The stuff in these jets is moving towards us at a slight angle and travelling at a fair fraction of the speed of light, and the effects of relativity produce a kind of optical illusion that makes the motion appear superluminal.
Never heard this before, anyone care to elaborate ?
- izaidi 17y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superluminal_motion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superluminal_motion
- Groxx 17y agoNice, thanks! Though this seems to say that this has absolutely nothing to do with relativity, and everything to do with the speed of light. That x years of light can arrive within x/10 years of each other makes it look like it's traveling 10x faster than it is. And if it's already going near light speed, it appears to go beyond that because it's nearly keeping up with its own light. (for tl;drs / those still confused) Think about wave-fronts collapsing onto a beach zipping away faster than you can run, despite only traveling a few miles per hour towards the beach. Same basic thing, but with light.
- jerf 17y agoYes. Relativity's "involvement" here is mostly limited to the establishment of an absolute upper limit on speed which is constant (so far as we know) everywhere; everything else is simple geometry.
- crazydiamond 17y agookay, clear now. actually it was v simple !