To what extend could one make use of gravitational assist for increasing spacecraft speed if one lived in a large, tight globular cluster? Crossing from one side of the cluster to the other a spacecraft could make use of numerous stars for assist.
This may well have happened quite naturally numerous times with planetisimals and planets.
What happens to the speed or nature of a photon when it passes close to a black hole but not so close that it gets captured?
Simple Peasant
A Question About Globular Clusters
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- Asternaut
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Re: A Question About Globular Clusters
No reason why not, though one's course would have to be carefully plotted to take advantage of the various stars' orbital motions. Would take quite a while I imagine.Simple Peasant wrote:To what extend could one make use of gravitational assist for increasing spacecraft speed if one lived in a large, tight globular cluster? Crossing from one side of the cluster to the other a spacecraft could make use of numerous stars for assist.
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Most certainly. Complex systems like this often eject unlucky bodies through gravitational interactions.This may well have happened quite naturally numerous times with planetisimals and planets.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Well, its path will be bent by the distorted spacetime around the black hole, similar to passing through a lens (but not identical). Falling towards the black hole, light is blueshifted, climbing away from a black hole, light is redshifted. I imagine these effects cancel out for light not originating near the 'surface' of the black hole, however.What happens to the speed or nature of a photon when it passes close to a black hole but not so close that it gets captured?
Simple Peasant[/quote]
Don't just stand there, get that other dog!