Can Light Be Read... Thus reconstructed?

[Skull]

Let me start by saying that I am not up to date on the current theories regarding light( Particle or Wave?).

When light travels it degrades, my understanding, hence we need larger and more powerful telescopes to capture more light, to be able to see further.

Question:
Could, as of yet unknown, reconstructable information properties/information, exist in within light?

Light from a star into our telescope at a distance of say, 1,000,00,000,000 L.Y., could be somehow read, then translated into a new distance, say 1,000 L.Y. (what the light was like at that point) Providing you with a closer image of that star.

I thought of the idea ages ago, but with the latest experiment trans-porting a laser beam across a room(not carrying, hehe), I got to thinking that we are actually only starting to learn more about how 'light' works. Which I think is cool, because I've always thought that the speed of light is not the limit to how fast we can go... But the begining.


No facts, just a thought...

Say G'day to ur Mum(mom) 4 me!

Apol. 4 the touch ups, but I was all over the place this morn.

 

[James R]

Hello Skull,

<i>Particle or Wave?</i>

Both and neither. Photons of light are quantum things which sometimes behave like particles and sometimes like waves.

<i>When light travels it degrades, my understanding, hence we need larger and more powerful telescopes to capture more light, to be able to see further.</i>

Light itself doesn't degrade. A photon could, in theory, travel across the universe and remain exactly as it started. Light is, however, absorbed by gas and dust. It can be bent by gravity. The light from a source dims as it gets further from the source because the photons spread out over a wider and wider area. To catch more photons from a particular source, you need a bigger telescope.

<i>Could, as of yet unknown, reconstructable information properties/information, exist in within light?</i>

Possibly. Light <b>might</b> have properties we don't know about yet, but obviously we don't know about them yet!

<i>Light from a star into our telescope at a distance of say, 1,000,00,000,000 L.Y., could be somehow read, then translated into a new distance, say 1,000 L.Y. (what the light was like at that point) Providing you with a closer image of that star.</i>

This is fantasy unless you can provide some idea of how this might be achieved.

 

[Skull]

Xcelent...

Originally posted by James R
Both and neither. Photons of light are quantum things which sometimes behave like particles and sometimes like waves.

<i>Light from a star into our telescope at a distance of say, 1,000,00,000,000 L.Y., could be somehow read, then translated into a new distance, say 1,000 L.Y. (what the light was like at that point) Providing you with a closer image of that star.</i>

This is fantasy unless you can provide some idea of how this might be achieved. [/B]

i always was of the belief it was both(possibly), there is hope.

Thx for the reply...

The original train of thought was to be able to see planets, working on the assumption that;

Light was both particle and wave
A particle implies matter
Matter is material
Material objects are a product of there surroundings
Thus there would be some record of where the particle has been.
Be able to recognise and extract that information
Combind that information with information collected from corresponding wave.
And you might be able to view, 360 degree, any point of it's journey from it to you. 'First person' view from the particle at that time in space.

i know it's simplistic, it's the k.i.s.s. principal_

 

[James R]

Interesting idea, but...

<i>A particle implies matter</i>

That depends what you mean by "matter". Physicists usually use the term to mean "something with rest mass". Photons have no rest mass, so are not usually considered to be matter.

<i>Thus there would be some record of where the particle has been.</i>

I'm interested in why you think that might be the case. For example, do you think I could somehow trace <b>your</b> movements, by some subtle sign the matter making up your body leaves behind as you walk around? If so, how?

 

[Skull]

Thnx for the pointers JR (rest mass and special relativity). Sorry it has taken so long to reply, I had to learn a little + my place has been like a train station.
If I understood correctly I concede it’s total fantasy (as opposed to just… a fantasy) as photons at rest have no mass… l though I did find a site that put forth the theory, ‘There is no rest mass’, reasoning that nothing is truly at rest as everything is subject to on going change.
Anyway, the reason a photon appears to have mass is because it is travelling at the speed of light. Thus, is subject to the exponential, exaggerations of mass associated with travelling at such an excessive velocity. Hence there is no rest mass for light particles/photons.

Originally posted by James R
That depends what you mean by "matter".

The original concept and analogy was based on the assumption that a light particle was ultimately, ((at the sub-molecular/ sub-atomic level or like) sub-photonic?), a rock/matter (rest mass), as opposed to something like a fractal analogy. Then theorizing that a photon begins like a smooth sphere, but over time in endless motion became more like a golf ball, pitted. Then with information gathered elsewhere, we might have been able to, 'fill in those pits'/ reconstruct said sphere, to varying degrees…

<Thus there would be some record of where the particle has been./>

I'm interested in why you think that might be the case. For example, do you think I could somehow trace <b>your</b> movements, by some subtle sign the matter making up your body leaves behind as you walk around? If so, how?

I never thought of it that way. But even using the working fantasy, I would have to say no, not the way I envisioned it. Or, if yes… Would be further along the “technological” tree than I had envisioned… Interesting.