Movie 22 (:49)

Script : Let's look at relativistic rotation. As we accelerate, the angular compression creates an initial impression of backwards motion.

At the top right is the camera speed relative to the scene, given as a decimal fraction of the speed of light. Although acceleration is constant, the number changes less and less as we get closer and closer to c, the speed of light.

The number at bottom left is the gamma factor, the degree of relativistic effects. This number starts at 1 and increases as we approach c.

At bottom right a bird's eye view shows the camera position on the highway.

As we pass the sign, it seems to rotate. This can be viewed as a Terrell rotation, or as angular aberration keeping the sign in our field of view as we pass it. Look at the difference between our actual postion as viewed from above on the lower right, and our apparent position. The back walls of the building are also visible, and extreme distortion is visible on all the objects. The sky shrinks down to the vanishing point.