Said mrjesse:"For an observer on earth at a point in time when Pluto is 6.8 light hours away and the earth rotates 102 degrees in 6.8 hours, when Pluto appears directly overhead, will it really be 102 degrees off - and not even really in the night sky? "Replied TXnMA: Yes.
| For an observer on earth who is looking at a bright and stationary planet that is 12 light hours away and is above the earth's equator, at the instant that said planet appears in the east will it really be in the west? Will its gravity be pulling in the opposite direction of where the light appears to come from at that instant? LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. |
| For an observer on earth who looks up and sees Pluto when it is overhead and when it is 6.8 light hours away, at that instant in time, will Pluto really be about 102 degrees away from where it appears? Will it really appear directly overhead at the moment it is really below the horizon? LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. TXnMA's answer:Yes. |
| If the sun were 10 light days away, and the earth was suddenly stopped, do you believe that the sun would continue to appear to rise and set for another 10 days? LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. |
| Let's say that you are standing on a turntable at the North Pole. Lets also say that the turntable (and its pointer) is tracking and pointing at the Suns gravity field (its actual position). Will the pointer on the turntable be pointing at* the light that you see or will it be leading or lagging that light by 2.1 degrees? (*Note: by "at" I mean "within about 20 arcseconds") LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. |
| Let us say that I tilted up my merry go around so that it's top pointed directly at the north star (Polaris to be specific) and furthermore let us say that I got it spinning at exactly 180 degrees per 8.3 minutes with reference to the position of the sun -- at the instant that the sun appeared almost exactly in my face, would it really be behind my head? In other words, would the light be coming from about the exact opposite direction from where the sun's gravity would be pulling - at any instant in time? LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. |
| Let us say that I had a merry go around on the North Pole furthermore let us say that I got it spinning at exactly 180 degrees per 8.3 minutes with reference to the position of the sun -- at the instant that the sun appeared almost exactly in my face, would it really be behind my head? In other words, would the light be coming from about the exact opposite direction from where the sun's gravity would be pulling - at any instant in time? LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. |
| You (LeGrande) said that If the earth were turning at the rate of 180 degrees per 8.5 minutes, the sun's optical image would be lagged 180 degrees from its real position. But then you say that if I was on a merry go around that was turning at the rate of 180 degrees per 8.3 minutes, and the sun appeared on the horizon, the sun's apparent position would not be 180 degrees displaced from its actual position. So how come, by your theory, would the earth's hypothetical rotational rate of 180 degrees per 8.3 minutes, for an observer on earth at an instant in time, cause the sun's gravitational pull and light to come from opposite directions from eachother, when for an observer on a merry go around turning at the same rate, it would not? LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. |
| For an observer on earth who is looking at a bright and stationary planet that is 12 light hours away and is above the earth's equator, at the instant that said planet appears in the east will it really be in the west? Will its gravity be pulling in the opposite direction of where the light appears to come from at that instant? LeGrande's Answer: Refuses to answer so far. |
All of your questions appear to be variations on the same theme -- and are occasioned by your misperception that there is a difference between rotation and orbiting.
The page linked byLeGrande in #716 answers all your questions.
Bottom line: for viewers within the universe, both cases are the same. Only an observer outside the system (you, the viewer of the page showing both animations at once) can discern which case (or complex combination of the two) represents reality.
Once you grasp the concept of relativity, it should be obvious that six days from God's viewpoint and billions of years from ours are one and the same -- and that the mind-burps of the medieval Bishop Ussher are totally irrelevant...
BTW, Why in the world would you think that would be "news" to anyone who does telescopic observation or photography? And why, "delicate"? You just described the reason the sun "rises" and "sets" -- and why we have day and night...