Re: Bendy Light

From: TTrotsky <TTrotsky_at_aol.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 13:04:17 EST


Philip Hibbs:

<< Just a thought: reflected light bends towards the sky, giving an apparent horizon, but light originating from the sky bends towards the sun. Does this help? >>

     I don't see how, I'm afraid. I agree that reflected light bends uniformly upwards, since that seems the only way to explain a horizon of fixed distance (ignoring mountains etc.) on a flat world. But I don't see how light originating from the sky bending towards Yelm would have any desirable effect. At noon, light would all be bending straight up and away from you, and besides most light from the sky in daytime comes *from* Yelm and can hardly bend towards him.

     And as Yelm moved through the underworld at night, the light from the stars and planets would bend in different directions. That would distort the pattern of the stars as the night progressed and make the Sky Dome look like it was made out of rubber...

     I assume that light originating from the sky either *does* move in a straight line, or quite possibly bends by a fixed amount - thus making it impossible to determine the distance to the Sky Dome (unless you know exactly how much it bends by, and there is a measurable parallax, I suppose) but having no direct effect on what the observer sees.

Forward the glorious Red Army!

    Trotsky


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