[mrjesse]

LOL The 2.1 degrees is is exactly related to the light-time correction and the distance of the earth from the the sun. If the Sun was closer the angle would be smaller, and if the sun was further away the angle would be larger.

I meant to say "Stellar Aberration" instead of "Light time correction." Please accept my most sincere apologies. It was just a hasty mistake. My point still stands. You can see that I had it right in this post.

Remember, you told me it was Stellar Aberration, which is unrelated to the distance from sun to earth. Are you changing that to Time-light-correction, now?

May I also remind you that you gave me the snow-flake-falling-while-me-moving thought experiment, which is the classical demonstration of Stellar Aberration. And it is of no use for light time correction.

So it's clear that you really meant Stellar Aberration. But Stellar Aberration is not influenced by the distance to the sun and the sun's apparent deflection due to Stellar Aberration is waaay smaller then 2.1 degrees. So which is it you are saying is the cause of the 2.1 degree lag -- Stellar Aberration, or Light Time Correction, or some other?

If this makes you feel better, here is what I meant to say:

But we're talking about the SUN here which is NOT orbiting the earth! And we're talking about 2.1 degrees of displacement, which is NOT stellar aberration. (Stellar aberration is very small and nowheres near 2.1 degrees and is unrelated to the distance from sun to earth.)

Whether you are moving or not depends on your reference doesn't it? And yes the same basic principle applies to a pendulum, gyro or LRG : )

Not when it comes to rotation. Dood, I've played with a real working live gyro. Gyros track absolute rotation around their sensitive axis if they are good enough. And light takes time to travel. So it does matter whether the sun orbits the earth or the earth spins. If light is the third body in a LRG, then light is a third body from the sun to the earth. If the sun is orbiting, then the light will actually follow a curved path -- and could go through a curved tube -- on its way to the earth. If the sun is not orbiting, on the other hand, then the light is going straight and will only go through a straight tube. Everyone knows that if you look at the end of a curved object it doesn't seem to be coming from the same direction as the other end. If the sun moves 2.1 degrees in the time that it takes 1-second long pulse of light to reach the earth, then the source direction of that light will be 2.1 degrees different then the suns current position. But if the sun didn't move, then it'll be coming from the same place the sun is - no matter how fast the earth turns.

Thanks,

-Jesse

[LeGrande]

If the sun is orbiting, then the light will actually follow a curved path -- and could go through a curved tube -- on its way to the earth. If the sun is not orbiting, on the other hand, then the light is going straight and will only go through a straight tube.

Ahh I think I see your misconception. light always travels in a straight line (shortest path through space-time in a vacuum, but lets not quibble). It is only your perception that it curves, and the perception is the same on both ends but the perception is wrong.