Another light speed one. Hypothetically…

[wildwood]

I am still trying to get my head around this speed of light thingy.

One spaceship can travel at the SoL and goes to the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (25000 light years away). Counting onboard time, would it get there in 12500 L.Y. as it meets the light?

[vascop]

Don't forget also that ALL material in the universe is emitting and absorbing light (elecromagnetic waves) all the time, some of it visible and some of it invisible to the human eye.

[starone]

I think you are all talking yourselves into a black hole here. Doesn't anybody know Stephen Hawkings personally. Perhaps we could ask him.

[sammmo]

I just can't get my head round it.. How the heck can anyone say that light just goes on and on even when the source has dissapeared.. surely if this were the case the whole universe would be full of light not darkness.. how do we know that what we are seeing in the sky at night is'nt just holes in the curtain that god has surounded us in? surely scientists are only guessing that there are stars out there billions of light years away.. nobody actually knows what this light is do they?

[vascop]

Sammo
Now you have revealed your true intentions. I suggest you go and do a Physics course somewhere and find out the complicated truth. Your last post makes me feel uneasy. Don't try and explain the universe with religious mumbo-jumbo after thousands of years of scientific progress. Please educate yourself about science.

[vascop]

Just out of interest: The Universe IS full of light (electromagnetic waves). You can only see the light if you are looking directly at it. Think of a torch; you can't see the light if you look at it sideways unless it's being scattered by dust, raindrops or snowflakes. The blue sky is caused by light being scattered by the atmosphere. Space is mostly empty and so the light is not scattered much at all.

[sammmo]

sorry to have rattled your cage vascop.. but i find one side as believable as the other one..I'm not a religious person.. i think its alot of mumbo jumbo as you said, but you can't tell me the scientists ar'nt just guessing and all this is'nt just theory..

[bibblebub]

the 'if I don't understand it then it must be guesswork' approach

[sammmo]

are you 100% sure that this is right bibblebub ..

[jake-the-peg]

//How the heck can anyone say that light just goes on and on even when the source has dissapeared.//

Sammo light is like a wave - throw a stone in a pond - the source (the stone) vanishes quickly - the ripples keep going

[Davethedog]

I haven't read all of this but I do know that when Einstien wrote about the clock, he was talking about the speed of light in relation to the clock,

So if you could see infinitely, and then moved away from the clock at the speed of light the time of the clock would never change, however if the clock moves with you it will. In relative time though, the time at your departure point would still be the same when you arrive at your destination.

If you take the time out of the equation its exactky the same as a conventional journey but much, much faster.

[naomi24]

vascop, I have to take issue with you. The theory of relativity is just that - a theory - and wildwood's question has produced some lively conversation. Let us not deter people from asking questions - especially such interesting ones. None of us know it all, you know. ;o)

sammmo, scientists guessing? Have you looked at the pictures on the Hubble website?

[sammmo]

jake.. sorry they don't ,they stop.. look at any pond on a calm day, no waves.if what you say was true .it would still be rippling from when someone chucked a stone in..

[vascop]

Sammo
Of course the scientists are not just guessing. What do you think astronomers have been doing all these years with all the optical and radio telescopes and the Hubble telescope in particular?
Scientists don't guess, they observe, do experiments, collect results, analyse them and then formulate these into the body of work we call science.
Scientists sometimes come up with an idea and then they test it by observation and research. If it fails the test then it is rejected.

[sammmo]

hi naomi..yes i have..they are amazing .. and alot of people have theories as to what they are photos of..but they are theories nobody actually knows, do they

[naomi24]

Sammmo, I don't know what you mean. Who says they're anything other than galaxies and stars, etc?

[naomi24]

... Oh, apart from some religious people who still think they are lamps hung in the sky by God.

[bibblebub]

Now we are on to philosophy. Prove that you exist sammmo, because to the rest of us you are just a few characters displayed on a monitor.

[sammmo]

sorry got to go now.. my boss has come in..have a great day everyone.. I'd better prove i'm here to my boss before he ejects me with the speed of light..

[Davethedog]

Sammo so photos of stars and galaxies are what, no one knows?

Your on a wind up son

[naomi24]

Sammmo, I do hope you'll be back as soon as your boss goes to lunch. I'm intrigued to know why you think those pictures aren't what they're claimed to be.