This is true, but the semantics are somewhat misleading. The speed of light does not appear to be c in every frame, it actually is c in every frame. From this all of the myriad consequences of relativity fall out. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Hello all Actually the round trip time for light will always measure out to be "c" in all frames. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I know. Let's say for argument's sake that the moon is exactly one light second away (since the exact delay won't change anything). If at t = 0 seconds you're pointing your laser at one side of the moon, you're guaranteed a spot on that side of the moon at t = 1 s. If you're quick and at t = 0.01 s (we can use Jupiter instead if this is too fast for you) you're pointing your laser at the opposite side of the moon, then the photons it shoots off will guarantee a spot on that opposite side of the moon (since there are no photon-photon interactions, it doesn't matter what the laser was doing earlier) at t = 1.01 s. If your laser was always turned on and pointing at somewhere on the moon, then the spot travelled across at least over 5400 km of lunar surface (half the moon's circumference) in 1/100[sup]th[/sup] of a second, or at least 540,000 km/s. For comparison, the speed of light is just under 300,000 km/s. Swivel's reply applies to you here: the spot isn't a material object. It's different photons reflecting off the moon's surface at different times essentially independently of one another, so there's no reason for the spot to be constrained by the speed of light. No I'm not. I've known this much about relativity since I was thirteen, but thanks anyway.
