aswinehart.com: After nerding out on some astronomy books and documentaries, I wanted to illustrate how slow the speed of light is in relation to the vast size of the universe. This animation shows, in realtime, the journey of a photon of light emitted from the sun and traveling across a portion of the solar system.
Vimeo: In our terrestrial view of things, the speed of light seems incredibly fast. But as soon as you view it against the vast distances of the universe, it's unfortunately very slow. This animation illustrates, in realtime, the journey of a photon of light emitted from the surface of the sun and traveling across a portion of the solar system, from a human perspective.
I've taken liberties with certain things like the alignment of planets and asteroids, as well as ignoring the laws of relativity concerning what a photon actually "sees" or how time is experienced at the speed of light, but overall I've kept the size and distances of all the objects as accurate as possible. I also decided to end the animation just past Jupiter as I wanted to keep the running length below an hour.
21 Comments
eric3579I admit, i kind of fast forwarded through this one
..and thus traveling faster then the speed of light? Suck it Einstein!
eric3579*length=45:01
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FlowersInHisHairNice. Thank goodness the animator didn't start right from the very beginning of the photon's life, as it takes around 170,000 years for a photon to travel from the core to the Sun's surface.
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eric3579*promote
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BoneRemakeI shall watch this later while I clean. I wonder if it has tachyons in it. OooOOo I am so exited.
lucky760Is that true?
That's fascinating.
Nice. Thank goodness the animator didn't start right from the very beginning of the photon's life, as it takes around 170,000 years for a photon to travel from the core to the Sun's surface.
Baristansays...http://www.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992ApJ...401..759M
Is that true?
That's fascinating.
messenger...
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mxxconAnd you missed all the easter eggs.
I admit, i kind of fast forwarded through this one
..and thus traveling faster then the speed of light? Suck it Einstein!
Chaucersays...i want to see part 2...
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RFlaggRelating to the 170,000 years to get out of the center of the Sun...
http://www.askamathematician.com/2013/08/q-why-does-it-take-thousands-of-years-for-light-to-escape-the-sun/
I just discovered this and found it *quality
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RFlaggIt's Hot... like the Sun... long way for a joke...
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Khufujokingly says...Oh, so this photon we are riding on happened to get cast out when all the planets "happened" to be aligned? This video is a hoax.
nanrodNo, this actually happened in 2012.
Oh, so this photon we are riding on happened to get cast out when all the planets "happened" to be aligned? This video is a hoax.
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