Near-Light Speed: Visualisation · Signals from the Periphery

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Speed

0.900 c

Lorentz γ

2.29

Sky ahead

26°

Ahead ×D

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Behind

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1 yr aboard

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Near-Light Speed · SR
cos θ′ = (cos θ + β)/(1 + β cos θ)
D ahead = √((1+β)/(1−β))
Brightness · × D² (beaming)
Sky ahead at 0.9 c · 26°
Michelson-Morley 1887 · Einstein 1905

Component

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Aberration, live

cos θ′ = (cos θ + β)/(1 + β cos θ)

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Speed

time dilationγ = 2.29

View

Speed preset

Controls

Speed0.900 c

logarithmic in 1−β, so the last sliver below c stays usable; γ climbs without limit

Roll0.4×

a slow roll about the velocity axis, purely for the sense of motion

Display

Doppler colour

Beaming (headlight)

Compression cone

Dust streaks

Component labels

Readout · live

Speed β

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Lorentz factor γ

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Sky-ahead cone

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Frequency ahead

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Frequency behind

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Brightness ahead

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Brightness behind

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1 year aboard

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α Centauri, contracted

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Three effects, one premise

Every strangeness on screen is the same premise applied three ways. Because light reaches you at c no matter your speed, arrival directions must fold forward (aberration), wave crests must arrive compressed ahead and stretched astern (Doppler), and the energy delivered per second must pile up in the bow (beaming, ×D² on a star). One postulate, three consequences, zero extra assumptions.

What is exact vs stylised

Exact: every star\u2019s position, colour shift and brightness change is computed live from special relativity at your β: the aberration formula, the Doppler factor D at the received angle, D² beaming and γ. The readouts are exact; the star sprites themselves are tone mapped, so above about 0.55 c the forward disc stops brightening on screen while the readout keeps climbing. Stylised: the blackbody palette and the eye\u2019s visible-band roll-off (into infrared and ultraviolet) are good approximations, not a calibrated spectrum; the Milky Way band is a procedural prop, not a catalogue; the dust streaks and roll are motion cues; and a warp bubble\u2019s calm sky is the standard theoretical expectation for metric propulsion, labelled Theoretical.

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