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Do you see the flashes simultaneously? If not, which occurred first and what was

ID: 2279941 • Letter: D

Question

Do you see the flashes simultaneously? If not, which occurred first and what was the time difference between the two? You are flying your personal rocketcraft at 0.90c from Star A toward Star B. The distance between the stars, in the stars' reference frame, is 1.0 ly . Both stars happen to explode imultaneously in your reference frame at the instant you are exactly halfway between them. Do you see the flashes simultaneously? If not, which occurred first and what was the time difference between the two?

Explanation / Answer

In your reference frame, Stars A and B are moving at 0.9c away and towards you respectively.

If they're the same distance from you, and they go boom simultaneously (in your frame), then since the light of the explosion travels at c and both explosions are the same distance from you you see them explode simultaneously.

However, by the time you actually see the explosions, the former location of Star B is much nearer than that of Star A. That's when things get interesting; transform the situation into the stars' reference frame and see how it looks.

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