Back to Main
Apparent Velocity
The apparent velocity depends on a geometrical point: the intersection between the detector's
past light cone and the history of the emitter object.
The horizontal purple line shows the apparent distance, as seen by the detector.
The rate of change of the apparent distance gives the apparent speed.
Things to look for:
- the scissors effect: the apparent speed of an approaching object
is very high when the angle between the emitter's history
and the detector's past light cone is small. That is, when the object's speed is near 1, and is moving
directly towards the detector.
- for β near 1, the apparent speed of a receding object approaches a limit of 0.5, not 1.0.