I saw this on Instagram and found it pretty interesting: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFTm_mqD8CL/?igshid=10v9oq5a2hxrh
I would imagine that this (or something similar) would be what they see when the Aurora jumps.
What you have shown us is something moving at FTL speeds and the logic of those pictures make sense. And is thoroughly enjoyable to watch.
But our favorite book series is more of a Battle Star Galactica kind of jump rather than moving at FTL through space.
As explained in various places in the series and most completely somewhere in Part 2, as the jump takes place, we move through space at normal speed but because of the jump fields time is canceled. Therefore those within the field have no sensation of time elapsing. To them and to outside observers, one moment they are here and the next they are there. This explains why when they hit something while jumping they are hitting it as though they just ran into it at normal speed. So we would not see anything during a jump.
Honestly, what I have always wondered is what happens to clocks, if anything in the Frontiers Saga. According to my understanding relativistic speeds, as we approach the speed of light, time for us remains the same but for those around us, time has sped up, compared to us anyway. So when those sleeper ships went to the Pentaurus cluster, and at fairly high speeds, time was all out of whack compared to us on earth. So sure, with jump drives, we instantaneously move, with no change in time for anyone, but that was not the same for those who went before us. They may have left the earth 1,000 years ago but their clocks we're not always running at the same speed as ours here on earth.
Is it significant? No idea and the story works a lot easier when we ignore the relativistic time issue. So I'm all for it but I still think about it.
@makahselamiut good input; i see your point. As to how significant.. no idea, but the topic is still pretty interesting and for me, I enjoy anything that help me visualize what I read or hear on this story.
Its fairly straight forward to update digital clocks based on estimated time dilation - based on speed x distance travelled - so shouldn't really impact unless you were awake
@four-islands good point. One must assume that for interstellar travel to work (from synchronized space/time, relative geolocation of points during a jump, ect.. ) there must me a universal time standard for it to work.
- Also currently ships at sea use ship board time. so as they travel they might work in a daily adjustment to round out the time dilation. Also arrival times at the destination are guesstimates based on past travel times, weather conditions, traffic at pinch points, regional stability, repair level of the ship, etc so while a ship might be expected at Noon Monday it could be a day early or a month late - but you would likely have been updated by sat phone email. in the past before real time communication you might as well flip a coin as to when/if a ship would arrive that day even on regular routes
