Pedestrian Physics 8

deSitter; Astronomical Proof of the Constant Speed of Light

deSitter’s analysis of the problem is of course correct. His conclusion:

if the Ritz theory were true, it would be impossible to bring the observations into agreement with the Keplerian laws,

does not follow.

In the following diagram rotation is clockwise.









Given the orbital speed, -v-, when v is much smaller than c,

w = c + vsin(µ)

x(µ) = µ+0.1/(1+0.1(sin(µ)));
y(µ) = sin(µ);
µ = 0 to 4π

above is the cuve as it would lok close by if the system were a point source. Both Einstein and Ritz would agree. According to Einstein, it would look the same from any distance.

Some Ritz generated plots at a distance are shown below



x(µ) = µ+10/(1+0.1(sin(µ)));
y(µ) = sin(µ);
µ = 0 to 4π


According to Ritz, the second plot shows the distortion at one “deSitter Distance” when faster photons first catch up with earlier, slower ones.





x(µ) = µ+100/(1+0.1(sin(µ)));
y(µ) = sin(µ);
µ = 0 to 8π


The last plot shows the distortion 10 times further out. At this point the spectroscope should show multiple absorption lines. At larger distances the lines should multiply and meld together and appear as fuzzy bands, rather than sharp lines.

On thing remains constant: The Period.

If the orbital plane is not aligned with the line of sight, not much changes. The projection of an ellipse (including the circle) to a plane, the line of sight at an angle withe the orbital plane, is still an ellipse; only the major and minor axes have changed.

I do not have real data to work with but the graphs I have seen in the literature seem to have more in common with Ritz’s saw-tooth pattern than with pure sine curves. I do not see why one type of curves should be harder to work with than the other.



*