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=                      Relativistic aberration                       =
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                             Introduction
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Relativistic aberration is the relativistic version of aberration of
light, including relativistic corrections that become significant for
observers who move with velocities close to the speed of light. It is
described by Einstein's special theory of relativity.

Suppose, in the reference frame of the observer, the source is moving
with speed v\, at an angle \theta_s\, relative to the vector from the
observer to the source at the time when the light is emitted. Then the
following formula, which was derived by Einstein in 1905 from the
Lorentz transformation, describes the aberration of the light source,
\theta_o\,, measured by the observer:

:\cos \theta_o=\frac{\cos \theta_s-\frac{v}{c}}{1-\frac{v}{c} \cos
\theta_s} \,

In this circumstance, the rays of light from the source which reach
the observer are tilted towards the direction of the source's motion
(relative to the observer).  It is as if light emitted by a moving
object is concentrated conically, towards its direction of motion; an
effect called relativistic beaming.  Also, light received by a moving
object (e.g. the view from a very fast spacecraft) also appears
concentrated towards its direction of motion.

One consequence of this is that a forward observer should normally be
expected to intercept a greater proportion of the object's light than
a rearward one; this concentration of light in the object's forward
direction is referred to as the "searchlight effect" (or headlight
effect).


                               See also
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*Relativistic beaming
*Aberration redshift
*Doppler effect
*Relativistic Doppler effect
*Ives-Stilwell experiment
*Time dilation
*Stellar aberration (derivation from Lorentz transformation)
*Aberration (astronomy)


                            External links
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*[http://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/aberration.html Detailed explanation
of relativistic aberration]
*[http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath160/kmath160.htm "Did Einstein
Misunderstand Aberration?"] at MathPages.com


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_aberration