3 ms·
Something being a circle or an oval would depend on your relative velocity, meaning the idea of a physical circle doesn't really make sense.
by enkid 5y ago
Something being a circle or an oval would depend on your relative velocity, meaning the idea of a physical circle doesn't really make sense.
- Retric 5y agoNot quite. Observing an object with high relative velocity distorts the observed shape, but all observers can agree what the shape would be at zero relative velocity. For similar reasons astronomers say distant objects are redshifted rather than assuming they are the colors directly observed.
- ben_w 5y agoAlthough in the special case of a sphere, despite the length contraction, the observed behaviour is a rotation because light travel time perfectly balances length contraction: https://www.spacetimetravel.org/fussball/fussball.html https://www.spacetimetravel.org/fussball/fussball.html