Wednesday, January 31, 2007

My light cone

The speed of light produces some very interesting consequences. One of these is the concept of a "light cone" the sphere of causality bounded by how far light will travel from a given point in time.
This website Will allow one to enter a date (preferably a birth date) and obtain details of the cosmos within the light cone from that date.
I'm not gonna list all the stuff in my light cone, but here's the most recent elements:

Coming: Rho Cancri (3 months away)

Rho Cancri is 40.9 light years away and only 3 months from the outer surface of your light cone - your ever-growing sphere of potential causality - which began its expansion from Earth on Guy's birthday.
80. 85 Pegasi

85 Pegasi is 40.5 light years from Earth. It was enveloped by your light cone 2 months ago.
79. Beta Trianguli Australis

Beta Trianguli Australis is 40.1 light years away.
78. HR1925

HR1925 is 39.9 light years away.

Some of that stuff gives me weird "astrology" vibes.

1 comment:

Rae Ann said...

That is really cool. Just last night I was thinking about photons. I'm such a freak. ;-) I need to look up some stuff so I don't ask any really dumb questions. lol