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The star S0-102

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C

CU

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S0-102 travels at 3,100 miles per second. How does that happen when light travels at 186,000 miles per second? Is it due to bending of space time around the supermassive black hole it orbits or something else. I need something my 7 year old can understand as he asked me about it. It wouldn't hurt if I could understand it also, LOL.
 
S0-102 travels at 3100 miles per second (relative to...?) while orbiting. The light it emits travels at the speed of light. Stars do not travel at the speed of light...
 
I'm still not sure what your question is, though, or more specifically, what about the star's orbital speed and its relation to the speed of light are you asking about?
 
Are you asking why light doesn't go faster coming off of the star? Its like the star is going fast already, so the light coming off of it should be light speed PLUS the speed of the star, right? If that's your question, Einstein figured that out so we don't have to (or rather because we couldn't).
 
I am asking how the star travels faster than the speed of light relative to the center of the galaxy? If you have a space ship that has a max speed of the speed of light could you ever come up behind and catch this star?
 
Maybe i'm missing something obvious about your question, but 3,100 is a couple orders of magnitude less than 186,000, indicating that the star in question goes significantly slower than the speed of light.
 
Zebreck said:
Maybe i'm missing something obvious about your question, but 3,100 is a couple orders of magnitude less than 186,000, indicating that the star in question goes significantly slower than the speed of light.
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That seemed obvious to me. Maybe that's why I missed it? Hmm. OP can you clarify? Wait, tell me if I got it.

You are saying, the speed that the center of the galaxy spins, if you move far out to the edge of the galaxy, that circumference will give you a much faster outer speed, like if you spin a tire, the outside of the tire has a much faster speed than the center, right? So you did that calculation and saw that it should be faster than light?
Last time I checked, the outside of galaxies spin slower than the inside. Why that is the case is beyond me, but I think galactic spin is slower on the outside for some reason.
 
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moonbogg said:
That seemed obvious to me. Maybe that's why I missed it? Hmm. OP can you clarify? Wait, tell me if I got it.

You are saying, the speed that the center of the galaxy spins, if you move far out to the edge of the galaxy, that circumference will give you a much faster outer speed, like if you spin a tire, the outside of the tire has a much faster speed than the center, right? So you did that calculation and saw that it should be faster than light?
Last time I checked, the outside of galaxies spin slower than the inside. Why that is the case is beyond me, but I think galactic spin is slower on the outside for some reason.
Click to expand...

Yea Newtonian physics don't apply to the galaxy.
 
OK this is why I shouldn't look at numbers late at night. When I original looked at it for some reason I thought the star was moving faster than light. Obviously 3100 is not greater than 186,000. At least my dumbness is forever recorded on the internet. LOL. If a mod wants to delete this post feel free. Or just leave for people to laugh at.
 
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