Question

Captain Kirk is in charge of the evacuation of the planet M-113 due to the impending explosion of its sun. The Enterprise's warp drive is damaged, so in an effort to escape they depart at full impulse speed ofp 0.6c and head toward the nearest star, Regulus VIII located 10 lightyears away. When they reach the midpoint of their journey from M- 113, we see M-113's star explode and, unfortunately, at the same instant we see Regulus VI explode as well. 1. (a) In the Enterprise's frame of reference, should we conclude that the two explosions occurred simultaneously? If not, which occurred first? (b) In a frame of reference in which the M-113's star and Regulus VIII are at rest, did they explode simultaneously? If not, which exploded first? Hint: You may ignore the distance from M-113 to its star as it will be several orders of magnitude smaller than the distance from M-113 to Regulus VIII.

Answer 1