- #1
Al68
OK, can someone answer this for me?
Let's say we have two spaceships, Ship A and Ship B, traveling toward Earth at v= 0.866c relative to earth. They are at rest relative to each other, not accelerating, and Ship B is at a distance of 5 light years behind Ship A (as observed by them). They have planned ahead of time to each accelerate to v = -0.866c relative to Earth at the same time (as observed by them). They plan these events to occur 5.77 years after Ship A passes Earth (according to them). So, according to the ships, ship A will pass Earth at t=0, ship B reaches Earth at t=5.77 years, and at t=5.77 years, both ships will accelerate to v = -0.866c. The ships turn around (relative to earth) simultaneously (as observed by the ships). Now for the Earth observer. Earth will observe the distance between the ships as 2.5 light years (due to length contraction), Earth will observe ship A pass by Earth at t=0, ship B turn around at Earth at t=2.89 years. But Earth will not observe ship A turn around simultaneously with ship B. When and where will ship A turn around according to an observer on earth?
I don't really need diagrams, but an explanation using Lorentz transformation equations would be great.
Thanks,
Alan
Let's say we have two spaceships, Ship A and Ship B, traveling toward Earth at v= 0.866c relative to earth. They are at rest relative to each other, not accelerating, and Ship B is at a distance of 5 light years behind Ship A (as observed by them). They have planned ahead of time to each accelerate to v = -0.866c relative to Earth at the same time (as observed by them). They plan these events to occur 5.77 years after Ship A passes Earth (according to them). So, according to the ships, ship A will pass Earth at t=0, ship B reaches Earth at t=5.77 years, and at t=5.77 years, both ships will accelerate to v = -0.866c. The ships turn around (relative to earth) simultaneously (as observed by the ships). Now for the Earth observer. Earth will observe the distance between the ships as 2.5 light years (due to length contraction), Earth will observe ship A pass by Earth at t=0, ship B turn around at Earth at t=2.89 years. But Earth will not observe ship A turn around simultaneously with ship B. When and where will ship A turn around according to an observer on earth?
I don't really need diagrams, but an explanation using Lorentz transformation equations would be great.
Thanks,
Alan