Submitted by Sabre-Tooth-Monkey t3_zyesvt in askscience
tnaz t1_j29hqqs wrote
Reply to comment by bobtheblob6 in How fast does the Milky Way spin? How far does Earth move through space in a year? by Sabre-Tooth-Monkey
The laws of physics do not specify an absolute velocity, and the speed of light is a maximum that any observer can measure any object going, no matter how fast the observer is going relative to some reference point.
The important context here is that velocities do not compose by simple addition, but by a Lorentz transform. If I see two objects moving away from me in opposite directions at half the speed of light, those two objects will see each other moving away at less than the speed of light. This is where you also see phenomena such as time dilation, length contraction, etc... come from.
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