- #1
surfa808
- 1
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Hi, I have a question that's been bugging me. For simplicity, assume everything is inertial.
Let's say I take off in a spaceship from Earth towards a distant galaxy at .99999999C - so basically, the trip will be very fast, and let's say in one week time in my reference frame, it will appear to me that I've passed the galaxy.
But since these are symmetric inertial frames, isn't this equivalent to the galaxy traveling towards my spaceship at .99999999C? So if that's true, then in the frame of the distant galaxy, the galaxy will also pass my ship in one week's time.
But then this doesn't make sense: from the galaxy's perspective light from Earth would appear to take billions of years to get there. So how is it that the spaceship can get there in less time than the light, which travels faster? Where is the error in my thinking?
Let's say I take off in a spaceship from Earth towards a distant galaxy at .99999999C - so basically, the trip will be very fast, and let's say in one week time in my reference frame, it will appear to me that I've passed the galaxy.
But since these are symmetric inertial frames, isn't this equivalent to the galaxy traveling towards my spaceship at .99999999C? So if that's true, then in the frame of the distant galaxy, the galaxy will also pass my ship in one week's time.
But then this doesn't make sense: from the galaxy's perspective light from Earth would appear to take billions of years to get there. So how is it that the spaceship can get there in less time than the light, which travels faster? Where is the error in my thinking?