Asri-unix.875
net.space
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:C70:sri-unix!Marshall.WBST@PARC-MAXC
Tue Mar  2 10:21:39 1982
ucbvax!mhtsa!harpo!chico!duke!unc!smb at Berkeley's high-speed quasars
Relativistic velocities don't add like slower velocities. If
two objects are moving in opposite directions relative to
a third observer at velocities v1 and v2 then the velocity
of one object relative to the other is

       v = (v1 + v2) / (1 + (v1*v2)/(c^2))

The colliding beam experiments generally use particles
traveling more than 99% the speed of light so a naive
calculation would show they collide with a relative
velocity of 198% the speed of light. The above formula
gives 19800/19801 = 99.995% or still less than the speed of light.

Two quasars therefore never recede from each other at more than the speed of
light.

--Sidney Marshall

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