Back to 28.4 Relativistic Addition of Velocities

28.4 Exercise 22

Avg difficulty 2.5

(a) All but the closest galaxies are receding from our own Milky Way Galaxy. If a galaxy 12.0×109 ly\text{12} . 0 \times \text{10}^{9} \text{ ly} ly away is receding from us at 0.0.900c0.900 c, at what velocity relative to us must we send an exploratory probe to approach the other galaxy at 0.990c0.990 c, as measured from that galaxy? (b) How long will it take the probe to reach the other galaxy as measured from the Earth? You may assume that the velocity of the other galaxy remains constant. (c) How long will it then take for a radio signal to be beamed back? (All of this is possible in principle, but not practical.)

OpenStax College Physics 2e, 28.4 Relativistic Addition of Velocities, exercise 22

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Adapted from College Physics © 2022 Rice University. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Sources: College Physics 2e, College Physics for AP® Courses 2e. Imported at revision f98d7a7.