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dog_superiority t1_iz9v99c wrote

I understand that if I get in a ship and travel 90% the speed of light, time slows down for me and I come back to everybody else being old as hell.

Yet what about the fact that Earth moving away from me at 90% the speed of light? Wouldn't it theoretically be "returning" back to me, and therefore experience the same slowdown of time?

Or is it acceleration that is important? That since I felt acceleration and Earth did not, that is why my time dialates and the Earth does not?

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Weed_O_Whirler t1_iza1cer wrote

You're correct, it has to do with acceleration. This question has a name, the Twin Paradox and solving this requires a more complex application of relativity than is normally taught until grad school- but essentially, it all comes down the the acceleration.

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