Name: Gregg
Status: other
Grade: other
Location: AR
Country: N/A
Date: 9/5/2005
Question:
I recently viewed a documentary in which astronomers
assert that they have captured images of actual supernova events. The
process involved taking several images sets of distant galaxies and then
evaluating any additional or missing points of light between the images.
It seems to me that due to Hawkening's theory that photons can be
deflected by massive gravitational influences, that these new points of
light could originate from an entirely different point in space. For that
matter, how can we be certain that these points of light were not
influenced by reflection of refraction?
They also stated that they were confused by their resulting data, as the
photos seemed to moving far slower than expected. They went on to say this
balks at the collapsing universe theory. why couldn't simple refraction,
which slows photons, account for the deviation?
Replies:
It is difficult to answer the question as phrased without seeing the
original references. I do not know of any reference that claims that the
speed of light in a vacuum travels at less than the value of 'c'. The path
length may change, the wavelength may change, but not the speed. There is
a phenomenon known as "lensing" where a massive body (strong gravity)
causes light from a distant source to be deflected (change of path length)
but this effect shows up in a very characteristic way on the image
observed from our vantage point.
Various "events" that occur on a time scale of fractions of a second have
been reliably reported, and with the Internet it is possible for such events
to be observed by multiple observers at multiple frequencies from the x-ray
to the infrared to learn a lot about the details of these rapid "events",
but I have not seen any reference to light traveling at less than 'c' in a
vacuum.
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