(That's an irregular word, isn't it? Usually a plural 'y' is 'ies', but 'flybies' doesn't look right. Oh well, something else to ponder)
Going on from the Train thread... My turn to start a pointless science question.
I've always wondered what the Starfleet Ship At Warp Speed thing would look like to a stationary observer. The TV shows always have the thing coming towards the viewer from the distance.
Given that they are going many times faster than light, it seems to me that the first light waves to reach the observer would be from the closest point of approach. You would then be hit simultaneously by light waves coming from both the approach path and the departure path.
So starting with the image of Enterprise at closest point of approach, I theorise that you would see an image of it go backwards to where the ship came from, and at exactly the same time, you would see another image of it shooting forwards to where it vanishes in the distance.
I think the Next Gen people might have figured this out with the 'Picard Maneuver' (with the impression given of two Enterprises at the same time), but since it seems logical normal results, I wonder why they decided to make it seem like a revolutionary combat tactic?
Am I off base?
If they flew at exactly light speed, would there just be a 'flash' of a single, infinitely long Enterprise, which then vanishes?
NTM