LIGHT PROPAGATION: THE UNTESTED ASSUMPTION

⚠ WHAT YOU'RE SEEING

The Setup:

• Each planet has a light source rotating with the planet's surface

• Light spreads symmetrically to 3,000 km from the source (expanding blue circles)

• Planets are ROTATING (different rotation speeds for each planet)

• Planets are ORBITING at different speeds (inner planets faster, following v² ∝ 1/r)

What We Observe Locally:

On ANY planet, light spreads symmetrically. This is what every observer measures from their own reference frame.

The Critical Question:

What does an observer on Planet 2 see when they look at Planet 1's expanding light wave?

Basic wave physics says:

Planet 2 is MOVING relative to Planet 1 (different orbit, different rotation). Therefore:

• The part of Planet 1's wave moving TOWARD Planet 2 should appear faster (c+v)

• The part moving AWAY should appear slower (c-v)

• The wave should look DISTORTED (elliptical), not circular

• This is how ALL waves work - sound, water, everything

Einstein says:

Planet 2 measures Planet 1's wave as STILL perfectly circular and expanding at exactly c in all directions, despite the relative motion. Time and space warp to make this happen.

The Doppler Absurdity:

We CAN move relative to a light source on Earth and detect Doppler shift. We do this in labs all the time.

So is light speed constant or not? Is it:

• A measurement problem? (Our instruments can't detect the speed difference?)

• A speed problem? (Speed really is different but we deny it?)

• A sensitivity problem? (The effect is too small to measure?)

We observe Doppler shifts (blue/red shift) - this IS evidence of differential velocity with the wavefront! The Doppler effect exists BECAUSE you encounter wave crests at different rates due to relative motion.

Yet we calculate c = fλ, see it equals 3×10⁸ m/s, and declare "speed is constant" - while ignoring that frequency and wavelength changed BECAUSE of differential velocity!

We use Doppler = differential velocity to measure galactic rotation. But for light speed itself, we deny what Doppler is telling us.

Why We Don't Know:

Every test is done FROM a planet (inside a "bubble"). Like testing sound inside Earth's rotating atmosphere - of course it's symmetric, the atmosphere rotates WITH the planet!

⚠ THE EXPERIMENTS NEVER DONE:

We've NEVER tested light from:

1. Non-Rotating Observer: A point that orbits the Sun but does NOT rotate with Earth's surface (no participation in Earth's ~460 m/s rotational velocity). Would light still appear isotropic from this frame?

2. Non-Orbiting Observer: A point that does NOT orbit with Earth around the Sun (no participation in Earth's 29.78 km/s orbital velocity). Would light propagation look different from here?

Click the red buttons above to add these observers to the simulation. These represent experiments that are technologically feasible today but have never been performed.

Scale Reality Check:

For every 1 meter Earth's surface moves due to rotation, light travels 651.7 kilometers. The animation shows wave expansion slowed dramatically for visibility - actual light waves would be invisible at this scale!

The Alternative Explanation:

The medium that carries light (call it aether, field, or spacetime) couples LOCALLY to gravitational systems - just like a planet's atmosphere rotates with the planet.

This explains:

✓ Michelson-Morley null result (medium rotates WITH Earth)

✓ Stellar aberration (at large distances, no local coupling)

✓ Local light symmetry (inside the coupled bubble)

✓ Doppler shifts (moving through the medium)

✓ Why sound behaves the same way (atmosphere is obviously coupled)

THE TEST:

Put an interferometer on a satellite that does NOT rotate with Earth's surface and does NOT orbit with Earth. Measure light speed isotropy from THAT frame.

If Einstein is right: still isotropic.

If local medium coupling: anisotropic (different speeds in different directions).

One experiment. 100+ years overdue. Technology exists. Nobody has done it.