Back to Home

Blackholes2 Forum Message

Forums: Atm · Astrophotography · Blackholes · Blackholes2 · CCD · Celestron · Domes · Education
Eyepieces · Meade · Misc. · God and Science · SETI · Software · UFO · XEphem
RSS Button

Home | Discussion Forums | Blackholes II | Post
Login

Be the first pioneers to continue the Astronomy Discussions at our new Astronomy meeting place...
The Space and Astronomy Agora
Re: Letīs Say: "It Can Be Done", But How Do We Do It?

Forum List | Follow Ups | Post Message | Back to Thread Topics | In Response To
Posted by nåte/">nåte on January 6, 1999 13:30:18 UTC

: In order to explore the universe we have to come : up with a way to succeed at leat one of the following problems:

: 1. Influence the distance we travel or : 2. Influence the time we travel or : 3. Maximize the speed we travel at.

: Does anybody has a suggestion how we can do this, or : thinks there is an other way to explore the universe in a life time.

luckily with relativity all three are encompassed due to relativistic effects.

as velocity increases, (near speed of light) effects such as, time dilation, length contraction all take place.

As far as it being feasible?

well, my opinion is that it would be rather limited. Due to acceleration limitations, the ability to explore boundless galaxies is likewise limited.

for instance:

to travel just to Alpha Centauri is 4.6 light years away. Lets say you traveled at a top speed of .98c. Well, that would require you to accelerate at 2g's for half the trip and deccelerate -2g's for the remainder of the trip. you would get to your destination in about 2.3 years, in about 5.2 earth years...

now, albiet you could travel at a little faster speed say, .9999998c, and cover much much greater distances, but remember with just that little difference in speed comes a huge difference in energy that it takes to get you there. (due to gamma affects with your increasing kinetic energy)

for instance, to travel at a top speed of .9999998c, it would take you about 4 years just to get you at that speed! with an acceleration of 2g's! what little difference in speed, but a huge difference in energy expension. (remember it took you about 1 year to go .98c at a 2g acceleration.)

Follow Ups:

    Login to Post
    Additional Information
    Google
     
    Web www.astronomy.net
    DayNightLine
    About Astronomy Net | Advertise on Astronomy Net | Contact & Comments | Privacy Policy
    Unless otherwise specified, web site content Copyright 1994-2024 John Huggins All Rights Reserved
    Forum posts are Copyright their authors as specified in the heading above the post.
    "dbHTML," "AstroGuide," "ASTRONOMY.NET" & "VA.NET"
    are trademarks of John Huggins