Special & General Relativity Questions and Answers
If an object travels near light speed, what does its image look like?
Traveling away from us, its entire spectrum would be redshifted. If it is an extended object, the differential light travel times across its emitting surface would cause it to be seen as a rotated or otherwise deformed object.
Return to the Special & General Relativity Questions and Answers page.
All answers are provided by Dr. Sten Odenwald (Raytheon STX) for the NASA Astronomy Cafe, part of the NASA Education and Public Outreach program.