[quote name='owl' timestamp='1305183261' post='4809686']
[quote name='szecs' timestamp='1305181762' post='4809677']
I don't think the perpendicular direction is any special.
I've been thinking about this and I remembered the famous "elevator" analogy used by Einstein. The light arriving perpendicular will describe a curved path inside the vessel, just as it would do if it passed nearby a very massive body. Traveling at c (or almost), from the perspective of the vessel it'd be like if the light coming from the outside bended downwards following the shape of the container (more or less I think...).
BBBBBBBBBBBB
B B ^
perpendicular light >----------\ O WTF? B |
| B / \ B |
| B | B |
| B / \ B |
| BBBBBBBBBBBB
\------------------------------------>
[/quote]
What are you guys talking about? Light would not follow a curved path. He described an instantly accelerating object. The light would only appear to follow a curved path if the observer was accelerating.[/quote]
You're right there. That drawing doesn't apply for an object that isn't accelerating.
In all reference frames, the only incoming light that can strike you at an angle orthogonal to your direction of travel is light that was emitted from a reference frame similar to yours. If you are traveling near c in direction v, only objects traveling near c in direction v could possibly shoot a photon at you in a path that would appear to you to be horizontal.
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How would light emitted, say, by stars behave in relation to the moving object? For some reason (my fault) I'm having trouble picturing that.