{"id":392202,"date":"2026-04-10T21:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/392202\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:02:24","slug":"what-you-would-see-and-feel-while-traveling-near-the-speed-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/392202\/","title":{"rendered":"What You Would See and Feel While Traveling Near the Speed of Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all learn in school, or at least from our more rig\u00ador\u00adous choic\u00ades of sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion, that we\u2019ll nev\u00ader be able to trav\u00adel faster than the speed of light. At first, this may sound dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00ading, but upon reflec\u00adtion, 186,000 miles per sec\u00adond is noth\u00ading to sneeze at. Ques\u00adtions about how to achieve that speed soon give way to ques\u00adtions about what an attempt to do so would be like, many of them answered by the ani\u00admat\u00aded video from Sci\u00adenceClic above<\/a>. The first sur\u00adprise is that mov\u00ading so fast, in and of itself, would have no neg\u00ada\u00adtive effect on us. When we trav\u00adel by bicy\u00adcle, car, air\u00adplane, space\u00adcraft, or what have you, we feel only the accel\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion. If that remains at a safe rate, no absolute speed will be a prob\u00adlem, in the\u00ado\u00adry, assum\u00ading you can get up to it. Still, it could\u00adn\u2019t hurt to buck\u00adle up, not that it would help much in the event of a col\u00adli\u00adsion, even with a speck of dust.<\/p>\n

Putting that out of our minds by assum\u00ading that \u201cour ship is equipped with a force field that repels dan\u00adger\u00adous objects and allows us to roam freely through space,\u201d we can con\u00adcen\u00adtrate on what we\u2019d see through the win\u00addow. First, \u201cthe stars in front of us, which we get clos\u00ader to, seem to grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly move away. The sky con\u00adtracts before us,\u201d much as rain appears to fall from the front when you\u2019re dri\u00adving through it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehind us, the sky seems to widen, and becomes dark\u00ader,\u201d and any object we pass \u201cwould appear to be slight\u00adly angled in our direc\u00adtion.\u201d Just as the light in the sky we see while stargaz\u00ading takes some time to reach us, thus con\u00adsti\u00adtut\u00ading a view of the stars as they were in the past, events on the Earth from which we\u2019re mov\u00ading away \u2014 pre\u00adsum\u00ading we had a way to see them \u2014 would appear to be tak\u00ading place in \u201cslow motion.\u201d Earth\u00ad\u2019s image would shift toward the col\u00ador red, and that of every\u00adthing in front of us would shift toward blue. After a few hun\u00addred days, our ship begins to approach light speed, and that\u2019s when things get even stranger.<\/p>\n

This, sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly speak\u00ading, is when spe\u00adcial rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty comes into play, caus\u00ading our ship to swerve onto its own \u201ctime axis\u201d apart from the one fol\u00adlowed by Earth. From our per\u00adspec\u00adtive, the entire uni\u00adverse would con\u00adtract along our length of motion, mak\u00ading our jour\u00adney short\u00ader than we\u2019d expect\u00aded. As we move faster and faster, the view in front of us inten\u00adsi\u00adfies, while the view behind us turns com\u00adplete\u00adly black. And what would hap\u00adpen when we final\u00adly reach light speed? Noth\u00ading, because we can\u2019t reach it: \u201cYou may try to catch a light ray, but from your point of view, it will always escape at the same speed.\u201d Accel\u00ader\u00adate all you like; \u201cfrom your point of view, you are still motion\u00adless, and light escapes inex\u00adorably.\u201d At best, \u201cour ship will con\u00adtin\u00adue to accel\u00ader\u00adate for\u00adev\u00ader, and our field of vision will shrink ever more, until form\u00ading an infi\u00adnite\u00adly bright spot in front of us, sur\u00adround\u00aded by an infi\u00adnite\u00adly black sky.\u201d But there may be a loop\u00adhole, in that, even if an object can\u2019t do it, \u201cnoth\u00ading pro\u00adhibits space itself from mov\u00ading faster than light\u201d \u2014 a premise for some tru\u00adly mind-blow\u00ading sci-fi if ever there was one.<\/p>\n

via Aeon<\/a><\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

M.I.T. Cam\u00adera Cap\u00adtures Speed of Light: A Tril\u00adlion-Frames-Per-Sec\u00adond<\/a><\/p>\n

60 Sec\u00adond Adven\u00adtures in Astron\u00ado\u00admy Explains the Big Bang, Rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty & More with Fun Ani\u00adma\u00adtion<\/a><\/p>\n

Does Einstein\u2019s The\u00ado\u00adry of Spe\u00adcial Rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty Sug\u00adgest That There Is an After\u00adlife?: A The\u00ado\u00adret\u00adi\u00adcal Physi\u00adcist Explains<\/a><\/p>\n

Pro\u00adfes\u00adsor Ronald Mal\u00adlett Wants to Build a Time Machine in this Cen\u00adtu\u00adry \u2026 and He\u2019s Not Kid\u00adding<\/a><\/p>\n

Einstein\u2019s The\u00ado\u00adry of Rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty Explained in One of the Ear\u00adli\u00adest Sci\u00adence Films Ever Made (1923)<\/a><\/p>\n

What It Feels Like to Fly Over Plan\u00adet Earth<\/a><\/p>\n

Based in Seoul,\u00a0Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. He\u2019s the author of the newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0as well as the books\u00a0\ud55c\uad6d \uc694\uc57d \uae08\uc9c0<\/a>\u00a0(No Sum\u00adma\u00adriz\u00ading Korea) and\u00a0Kore\u00adan Newtro<\/a>.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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