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The faster the relative velocity, the greater the time dilation between them, with time slowing to a stop as one clock approaches the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s). In theory, time dilation would make it possible for passengers in a fast-moving vehicle to advance into the future in a short period of their own time.
The speed of light in a locale is always equal to c according to the observer who is there. That is, every infinitesimal region of spacetime may be assigned its own proper time, and the speed of light according to the proper time at that region is always c. This is the case whether or not a given region is occupied by an observer.
Special relativity says, the faster you go, the slower time goes. If you travelled a year at 95% the speed of light; you'd age one year, and people on Earth would age 3.2 years! But if you were ...
For the middle of the journey the ship's speed will be roughly the speed of light, and it will slow down again to zero over a year at the end of the journey. As a rule of thumb, for a constant acceleration at 1 g (Earth gravity), the journey time, as measured on Earth, will be the distance in light years to the destination, plus 1 year. This ...
Consider a space ship traveling from Earth to the nearest star system: a distance d = 4 light years away, at a speed v = 0.8c (i.e., 80% of the speed of light). To make the numbers easy, the ship is assumed to attain full speed in a negligible time upon departure (even though it would actually take about 9 months accelerating at 1 g to get up ...
The speed of light can be used in time of flight measurements to measure large distances to extremely high precision. Ole Rømer first demonstrated in 1676 that light does not travel instantaneously by studying the apparent motion of Jupiter's moon Io. Progressively more accurate measurements of its speed came over the following centuries.
During their journey, people on Earth will experience more time than they do – since their clocks (all physical phenomena) would really be ticking 3.1 times faster than those of the spaceship. A 5-year round trip for the traveller will take 6.5 Earth years and cover a distance of over 6 light-years.
The time change helps to maximize the amount of natural daylight. For many, it's good to wake up and feel like you got more sleep or wake up earlier than usual. Hopefully, making you feel more rested.