posted on Jun, 20 2006 @ 09:53 AM
Keep in mind that essentially all speeds are relative to something else. For example, the Earth is rotating and moving around the Sun, so you are
moving through space even when you are "at rest" relative to the ground. In this case Saturn.
I said "essentially" because there is one exception... the speed of light is always the same (specifically, 300000 km/s) to all observers ,
regardless of the speed of the observer or the light emitter (in this case, the spaceship). This is not very intuitive, as I hope seeing it was as a
explanation was. So even if you are traveling at 150000 km/s, a beam of light would still pass you going 300000 km/s or approach you going 300000
km/s. What happens is that as you travel faster and approach the speed of light, distances shorten and time slows down so that light still travels at
300000 km/s relative to you. This is not just a theory... these effects have been observed in experiments. According to Einstein's equations, it is
impossible for anything with mass to reach the speed of light. So the answer to the first lol question is that you couldn't be traveling at the speed
of light, but even if you were traveling at close to the speed of light, you would still be able to illuminate your camra and shine some light on a
target outside. The speed of a exposure is negligible compared to the speed of light, so in that case we don't have to worry about these effects.
Some day you'll know the numbers of photos taken in space and NONE NONE look like this one of the series of shots taken and then classified "ATS"
Lastly, you can see other views of the ship by reading the posts above.
A good general-level book on these topics is Einstein's Universe by Nigel Calder.