[StarleeHibits]

I'm having problems applying the Lorenz Length Contraction formulas to the following problem...

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The Starship Azathoth is on a long-term voyage to the Orion Nebula at constant sub-light velocity. It is a massive mile-long deep space robotic exploration vessel. As it passes near the blue-giant star Betelgeuse, an alien probe measures the apparent length of the spacecraft to be only 1.8 bleerths (= six-tenths of a mile) long. How fast is the starship moving in terms of the speed of light c? Explain.
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How do you do this?

[deamonstar]

the starship azathoth is travelling at 148,800 miles/sec. or 8/10ths or 80% the speed of light.

the equation used is

L=Lo x sqrt of 1-(v²/c²)

where

• <LI>L=length in motion
  <LI>Lo=length at rest
  <LI>v=velocity of starship
  <LI>c=velocity of light

the solution would then be

v=c sqrt of 1-(L/Lo)² = 186,000m/s x sqrt of 1-(6/10m / 1m)² = 148,800m/s