DrowElfMorwen

Thank you K^2, I don't know why I didn't think to look up the Twin Paradox. Now imagine how cool it would be to record such an aging of a planet on a ship. Sure, we might not see much change except for clouds and an ocean, if its there, but it'd still be cool.

Sorry, this is the OP. I feel no one saw my second, follow up post clarifying a better scenerip to ask my quastions. So I'm still not quite sure what the answers are.

I should clarify some of the questions in this thought experiment, though I do think my questions were answered (so far). I will set up this little thought experiment like this; Scientist A hops on his ship and looks at the planet, knowing he is seeing it 40 years younger than it actually is at that moment (from hid Earth time reference frame). He takes off toward the planet traveling at 0.999% the speed of light. How long does it take him and how does he see the planet changing along the way? From answers so far, the travel and changes are pretty much instantaneous, and the planet will suddenly be 40 years older when he arrives BUT will have gone through 80 yrs worth of physical changes from his initial viewpoint back on Earth. Scientist B, on Earth, watches Scientist A leave. For the purposes of this thought experiment let's say he spends the next 40 years observing his colleague and can see him with some magnificent telescope. I suspect he will not see his friend arrive for 80 years, as he would observe his friend's journey slowing to account for time "looking into the past" and the light of his friend's journey would take longer to "report back" his position relative to Earth and the new planet. Would you guys agree?

This is my first post as I have a serious but "heavy" question regarding the recent news from NASA about TRAPPIST-1's planets. I posted on Facebook, to my friends, the following: "This particular system is 40 light years away, meaning even if we could travel at light speed it would take 40 years to reach it. However, realize that as you began your journey and say, for example, you can see it from Earth or your space ship telescope--you're looking at a planet 40 years in the past. As you travel toward the planet and periodically look at it again, do you know how how much time would have passed on that planet, say, ten years into your journey? Well, ten years would pass, but are you SEEING it ten years older? How much older would the planet be by the time you arrive?" Wondering on my own questions, I want to know if I'm on the right track. The planet will not have an 40 nor an 80 years difference of age, but somewhere in between, as the distance of space between yourself and the planet would be getting smaller and smaller. But does anyone have an idea of how I could figure out the exact age of the planet by the time our hypothetical traveler arrives? What equation(s) would be used in this physics question?