Visual Appearence of Space at near light speeds

[Monand]

How would traveling at near light speeds effect the appearance of space? Factoring in considerations like the Doppler effect and distortions of time and space, how would this change one's visual perception of the star field?

 

[SpeedFreek]

The starfield would look squashed and blueshifted in your direction of travel, and your field of view would contain objects that are almost directly behind you!

Have a look at the link below for more information:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/

 

[crazyeddie]

How would traveling at near light speeds effect the appearance of space? Factoring in considerations like the Doppler effect and distortions of time and space, how would this change one's visual perception of the star field?

I've read that the view of the universe out of an observation port located at the tip of a ship approaching the speed of light would gradually contract, with the stars towards the rear of the vessel red-shifting to invisibility and the stars ahead blue-shifting into progressively higher visible wavelengths. Soon, the ship would be surrounded by a sort of rainbow halo perpendicular to the motion of the ship, with violet/blue stars in the forward direction, green/yellow stars in the middle, and orange/red stars trailing. As the ship moved even faster, the observable universe would contract into a ever-dwindling cone that would only be visible directly in front of the ship, as all other light would be red-shifted into invisibility. Eventually, the only thing you would see of the universe would be an intense, bluish-white spot directly ahead.

 

[SpeedFreek]

An excellent description there, Eddie. Thanks!