Light Speed and such.

As a person that is very interested in the workings of the Solar System I can possibly qualify as an informed amateur. I enjoy writing about what are not well-publicized aspects of how things are. Scientists have unraveled a lot of information about the Solar System and its contents but there is still a great deal that is unknown or as yet undiscovered. Our Star, the Sun, appears to have a unique relationship with the Earth when we consider the mathematics of the System. The very size of the objects is curious. The Sun at 864,000 miles in diameter provides for a circumference of 2,714,342 miles. The Earth with an equatorial diameter of about 7926.6 miles shows a unique relationship to the Sun. When you divide the Earth’s diameter into the Sun’s circumference and get 342.434 as the result; the square root of 342.434 is 18.505. By a very strange coincidence of numbers 18.505 miles per second is the exact mean orbital velocity of the Earth as it revolves around the Sun. I have mentioned that circumstance in other articles.

Science, with out major dispute from any source, has formed two primary conclusions about the Sun that I want to discuss here. A third conclusion relates to the alleged differential rotation of the Sun and that item will be put aside for another article on that single topic. The speed of light in a vacuum, such as in “empty” space, has been fixed at about 186,281 miles per second. This determination includes the additional conclusion that nothing can travel faster than the measured speed of light. From what I have read on this topic this last conclusion was, in part, an outgrowth of Einstein’s formulas dealing with his Relativity theories. There is no offering by science regarding the initial speed of light as it leaves the Sun and we are not yet provided with an explanation of what the basis is for the particular 186.281 miles per second speed. Why not 188,000 miles per second? Taking what we have to work with I must conclude that if the speed of light is “constant” and we measure it at 186,281 miles per second then it must blast off form the Sun at an instantaneous speed equal to its maximum speed. I do not believe that but to be consistent it is accepted as true. There is one other scientific conclusion that I think fits into this discussion and that relates to the conclusion that the Sun is not oblate. All the major planets show some sign of being oblate. This quality simply means that the equator of the planet, or a Star, for this discussion, will have a slightly larger diameter when measured across the equator as compared to a measure from pole to pole. This is generally felt to be due to the objects rotation as the cause. My view is that the tug of the satellites in orbit around an object contributes to the oblate ness of the orbited object as well. We can take note that Mercury and Venus do not appear to be oblate but they hardly rotate and they have no moons. Earth and the balance of the planets show some degree of oblate ness.

This came up at first due to a debate concerning the behavior of the Planet Mercury which some astronomers thought was due to the Sun being oblate and Einstein’s suggestion that Mercury behaved the way it did because of the Sun’s gravitation warping space altering Mercury’s orbit. It was possible that each theory could be the cause and when they studied the Sun searching for oblate ness they did not see any, so Einstein’s idea won. Note that science had concluded that the photon had no mass and that gravity would not have an effect on objects with no mass. So, the underlying basis was that if the Sun’s gravitation was not warping the mass less photon it must therefore be warping space itself. So if we cannot bend the photon we must bend space instead. This seems a little strange because empty space is also without mass, is it not? I discuss this a little more in my book and I bring it up here again only to do with what we see of the Sun relating to this general topic. Note that all major planets are oblate. If the scientists are correct that the rotational speed of the object is the cause for oblate ness than take note that the Earth’s equator rotates .2882 miles in one second while the Sun rotates, at the Equator, 1.25564 miles per second. 1.25564/ .2882 = Sun rotates 4.36 times as fast as the Earth. The Earth is oblate but the Sun is not? This is relevant to the general topic as will be shown n the balance of the discussion.

The Sun is a very large sphere. This means that the equator as the widest part of the sphere is closer to the Earth than the Sun’s poles are. We can consider that the poles, and the far edges of the equator, are at least 432,000 miles farther from the Earth than the equator, without giving any consideration to potential oblate ness. With the speed of light being constant at 186,281 miles per second it will take the light from the Sun’s poles 2.319077 seconds to reach the light leaving from the Sun’s equator. This is also true for the far edges of the equator. In addition the Sun is rotating, at the equator, about once every 25 days. That is a total of 2,160,000 seconds in one 360-degree turn. With the Sun’s equator turning at 1.25664 miles per second the Sun will rotate 2.319077 seconds or 2.91424 miles before the light from the Sun’s edges and from the poles gets to the equator. Also note that the Sun’s entire surface is progressively farther away from us than the equator so we have a time lapse for everything between the equator, the poles and the edges.

At the equator light is leaving the Sun at the 186,281 miles per second constant and must travel about 92,961,440 miles of the mean orbit radius of the Earth’s orbit to reach Earth. At the constant speed it will take about 499.03876 seconds for the light from the Sun’s equator to reach Earth. What kind of picture will we get? If we could actually see the Sun’s edges there would be a time lapse of sorts. There is no apparent distortion that I am aware of in any of the JPL or NASA pictures that I have see so I contend that we never see the edges of the Sun for that reason and other reasons.

Let’s consider another perspective of the Sun/Earth relationship. The Earth’s Moon is about 2,180 miles in diameter and it has a mean orbit radius around the Earth of about 239,240 miles. During an eclipse of the Sun by the Moon we see the remarkable blocking of the Sun’s light by the Moon. Note the Sun has a diameter of 864,000 miles and is covered by a mere 2,180-mile size Moon. When the image of the Sun travels the last 239,400 miles to the Earth the image will be even smaller. I have not provided a sketch because I have not experimented with uploading a sketch in text format for this publication. Visualize the surface of the Sun from edge to edge and consider how much is lost if you try to draw angles from the real edge to the small edge represented by the eclipsed size of the Sun. My comments are founded on common sense and logic simply using the evidence collected by experts. The very size of the Sun would require that the light from the Sun’s edges would have to travel through the body of the sun if we are going to see them at any distance from the Sun. I cannot predict how much of the extremes of the Sun are lost to us but it is easily enough to hide any potential oblate ness up to a very close view of the Sun. Now, how about the alleged warping of space by the mass of the Sun. What would that warping of space add to the real time image of the Sun, if anything? Any warping of space would be a full 360 degrees around the Sun. I have not given it much thought but the prospect of this warped space affecting the light we see is fascinating.

The two main items for this article relate to the conclusions that Sun light will travel at 186,281 miles per second and that speed is the maximum speed that anything else, anything other than sunlight, can travel. Using various instruments located here on the Earth, or in close proximity to the Earth light speed has been measured to be as recited. One way is to bounce a laser light off of a reflector on the moon and measure the time it takes to make the round trip. There are more clever ways using triangulation, I believe, between planets that measure the path of the light and the time it takes to cover the distance. A Danish Astronomer, Ole Roemer, we are told, made the first reasonable measure, in the 1670’s. He did it by observing the orbit of Jupiter’s Moon, Io. As the Moon came form behind Jupiter it was visible on some occasions earlier than others and he reasoned it was due to the Earth’s distance from Jupiter being different. By careful observation and calculations he estimated light speed at 186,000 miles per second. He was very close to the eventual determination of 186,281 miles per second.

Keep in mind that we do not have a device on Mars or Jupiter that is able to measure how long it takes light to get to those planets after it passes by the Earth. We now measure the time and divide it by two to get the value for the one-way trip. When this is done we measure the original sunlight on the way out and reflected sunlight on the way back. If light was traveling at different speeds each way we would end up with the average speed when we divide the total by 2 and the final speed would be different than we find now. We usually feel good when we know we have the answer to a scientific issue. We feel comfortable enough that we can now focus on some other mysteries. I sincerely believe that we do not yet have the answers to the speed of light. It is logical and possible that there are factors that are overlooked.

We know that substances that it must pass through in its travels can affect light speed. Water, dust, gases, and gravity can refract light and, while not yet proven, I contend that other light can refract light under some circumstances. As I mentioned above, we are told that the photon has no mass. It is believed that objects of no mass are not affected by gravitation. That is why Einstein came up with his warped space theory for the curvature of light around the Sun. The idea being that if things of no mass are not affected by gravitation than why did the photons of the distant star bend around the Sun. The answer provided was simple; if we cannot bend light then we will bend the space. . I recall seeing scenes of academics rolling billiard balls over tight netting to demonstrate how space was bent by the presence of a massive object like the Sun, Any way it is another way to emphasize the strength of gravitation close to a large mass.

I suggest that a good way to discuss the affect of a large massive object is to think of the gravitation in terms of density. The closer things are to the object the greater is the density of the gravitation. On the subject of planets speed of rotation, in another article, as yet unfinished, I likened the movement of the planets to a whirlpool in a viscous liquid; the objects closest to the center are swept along fastest. This is so fundamental it is the most important part of Newton’s formula on Universal Gravitation. We can calculate the mass of any orbited object by knowing the mean orbit of any object revolving around it. This must be due to the strength of gravitation that I like to think of as the density, as representative of the strength.

Returning to the Sun we have at least two factors to consider when evaluating the potential bending of light from behind the Sun. First of all we have in the immediate density of sunlight in close proximity to the Sun. On this point keep in mind that a photon from our Sun must expand, or enlarge, to full up all available space to be seen 1000 light years from here. Next we have the extreme density of gravitation next to the Sun. If we permit some speculation we may reconsider the essentials of light itself. Light coming from a distant source, will not be as dense as the light close to the Sun and could be refracted enough to simply be pushed aside enough to travel around the sun. The result would provide the same effect that is now attributed to the warping of space. These two viewpoints are entirely different. The alternative is for the light to dead end at the Sun, to be blocked by the Sun, but it is not.

I do not favor the warped space conclusion because we have an entire Solar System to deal with. If it is going to work for the Sun it must work everywhere. Every planet would be warping space, more or less, depending on its mass.

Suppose that light emanating from the Sun was leaving at less than the accepted “constant” speed. The idea is foreign to us but worth a little thought. We do not now have a suggested speed (I do in my book) but just considering the prospect may open a rift in the light speed conclusion. If light must, for any reason, begin its journey at less than maximum speed we are confronted with a number of issues. Assuming it has a starting speed less than the maximum potential we must consider the rate of increase to achieve the measured maximum and why the increase appears to end at 186,281 miles per second as it passes by the Earth. In other words the light at blast off must constantly gain speed up to the Earth’s orbit and then stop doing so to keep going at the fixed maximum speed. These are not trivial questions.

An underlying issue is “why does light travel?” If you Google that on the Web you will find that this is still an open question that is not as yet understood. Some argue that if light is a wave and space is a vacuum there is nothing to carry the light comparing sound waves requiring air to travel.

There is only one thing I know about light that is consistent and that relates to lights expansion. I contend that the expansion of light is both the means of its ability to travel and the means by which it eventually tops out at a given speed. This suggests that if the expansion of light were restricted it would be able to travel faster. I would liken this to the expansion of a gas by the sudden release from compression. The initial expansion close to the source is the greatest. If we have two containers, one with the compressed gas inside another about 10% larger with a small tube exiting it and we release the gas from the internal tank it will quickly expand into the second tank and that tank upon getting full will let the gas exit through the tube at a higher pressure than it did from the internal tank to the second tank. The expansion of light making its way out into the Solar System will travel faster as it escapes into areas of less gravitational compression. I expect the following:

Initially the sunlight is highly compact at the surface of the Sun. Each Photon is compressed by the Sun’s gravitation and the proximity of the other Photon’s making up the Sun’s surface. With each radius of the Sun that the light moves away from the Sun the area will double. You could say that the Photon is now half as dense as it was originally, At 1,296,000 miles from the Sun’s center it is about triple, or one-third as dense, and so on. I am not mathematically gifted so there may be a potential for error but the reasoning is apparent and accurate. By the time sunlight gets to the Earth it will have expanded 215 times. (92961440/432000). However this sunlight while being in an area of space with less dense gravitation than at the Sun’s surface is still not at the point of least gravitational density. The maximum speed of light will not be achieved until there is no restraint on the lights expansion. At that point in space is where the light may no longer be visible to others.

My conclusion is that light travels through space by expansion that is built upon it, pushing upon itself, constantly. If I am right there may be some means by which we can determine the potential speed of light from the beginning of its travels from the surface of the Sun on out into space.

When working up the figures over the years I had a lot of trial and error efforts until I came to accept the orbital velocity of the planets as a measure of the density of the gravitational force at that point in space. I had explained in another article my estimate of the minimum radius of the Solar System into which you cab divide the mean orbital radius of any object orbiting the Sun and obtain the objects mean orbital velocity, squared. For the Earth that is 342.435, the square root being, 18.505 miles per second. We know that the speed of light here at Earths position is about 186,281 miles per second. Suppose we try 186,281 + 342.435 and get 186.623.43 as representative of the potential for the speed of light at the edge of the Solar System. My view of the method resulted in a number based upon 432 squared, or 186,624. On page 128 of my book I explain how I arrived at that multiplier. Taking advantage of the Earth result I will provide a chart to show my contention for the speed of light from the Sun on out through the Solar System.

Object          Orbit Radius                   OV              OV^2           186624 maximum
                       In miles                     miles            miles              minus OV^2

Sun at exit          Equator                271,43          73,682.67          112,941.32 mps

Mercury          35,977,324                29.74           884.46            185,739.54

Venus             67,232,236              21.76           473.49              186,150.51

Earth            92,916,440               18.505          432.435             186,281.56
                    You will note this is an accurate rendition of light speed here.

Mars           141,610,227                   14.99           224.70             186,399.30

Jupiter          483,612,285                   8.11             65.77             186,558.23

Saturn          886,695,015                   5.99             35.88              186,588.12

Uranus         1,783,953,320                4.22             17.81             186,606.19

Neptune        2,794,363,106                3.37             11.35            186,612.64

Pluto           3,666,222,305               2.94             8.64             186,615.35

Unknown       31,830,914,183             1                  1                 186,623.00

Unknown        50,000.000,000             .6366           .4052             186,623.59

Unknown        200,000,000,000          .159154          .39894          186,623.60

Other than what was discussed in my book Surfing the Solar System I am unaware of any source offering a basis for the speed of light near the Sun’s surface and what was going on to get it up to the speed we measure here at Earth. I have made a halfhearted effort to calculate the distance from the Sun wherein light will reach the potential maximum of 186,624 miles per second. You may be surprised to learn That 10,000,000,000,000 miles from the Sun it only goes at 186,623.9968 mps. Even at 31,416,000,000,000 miles it only hits 186,623.99898679 miles per second but it would be difficult to get any closer to the final figure.

This article turned out to be longer than expected. I will now go into the details of why we do not measure the higher speeds of light I recite when the reflected light comes back to us, say from Jupiter, on page 4. The follow up article provides the final details to the speed of light issue.

I like to hear from readers if there is some constructive and potentially useful discussion to be had. n666_up@yahoo.com