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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?- 36 replies
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