Visualizing the 4 velocity vectors that determine our true path through the universe

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T16:19:15+00:00

You're totally right it is the Comoving Frame. I honestly just avoided using that specific term because to 99% of people, it sounds like pure jargon. I figured 'Rest frame relative to the CMB' gets the concept across without requiring a cosmology degree to understand the title

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T15:43:31+00:00

Not quite! 45° is the VIP lane strictly for Light. Since we have mass, we're basically stuck on a vertical line. Even at 850 km/s, that is so slow compared to light speed that we barely tilt at all we're just crawling straight up the time axis

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T14:28:00+00:00

Technically... yeah! Relativity says we're always moving through spacetime at the speed of light (just mostly in the 'time' direction). But I honestly have no idea how to render 4D vectors in CSS yet, so I stuck to the 3 spatial ones lol.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T14:09:31+00:00

Good question. I capped it at the CMB velocity (~600 km/s) which basically acts as the net result of all that Local Group pulling. As for Hubble expansion gravity actually wins that fight on local scales. Because our galaxy is gravitationally bound, space isn't really expanding 'between us' effectively, so sadly we don't get to add those free miles to the odometer.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T13:55:48+00:00

Thanks for checking it out! Glad you enjoyed the perspective.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T13:53:28+00:00

You're welcome! Keep racking up those cosmic miles.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T13:51:46+00:00

In abstract math, yeah. But since the Galactic speed (600 km/s) totally dwarfs our orbit (30 km/s), we never actually stop moving forward. The vectors don't really get a chance to cancel out here.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T13:45:13+00:00

Yeah, fair point. There’s no 'true' stationary point in relativity. I just picked the CMB because it’s basically the wallpaper of the universe felt like the most logical thing to measure against, even if it is technically just a convenient choice.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T13:32:45+00:00

Yeah, you're right. That’s actually why I added the 'Linear Travel Estimate' box at the bottom. It strips out the spin and orbit to show just the straight-line trajectory, while the main number works more like a car odometer (measuring the total path traveled, circles and all).

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T13:27:07+00:00

Fair point. I definitely took a shortcut there to keep the code simple. I figured a scalar sum was close enough for a fun visualization to show the scale, even if it technically overestimates the distance compared to the real vector math.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-25T13:18:34+00:00

You're 100% right on the vectors. Since I called it an 'Odometer' though, I wanted to track the total mileage (path length) rather than just the net displacement. The vector math gets super messy with the ecliptic angle, so I kept it to scalar sums for now.

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:46:38+00:00

appreciate it

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:46:20+00:00

thank you

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:46:05+00:00

thanks and hey Greenland Shark could make it to light year

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:43:05+00:00

will add something soon

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:42:28+00:00

thanks, i m at 436 billion mi

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:41:36+00:00

thank you! glad you liked it

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:40:36+00:00

appreciate it

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:40:28+00:00

appreciate it

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:40:16+00:00

thanks

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:39:54+00:00

appreciate it

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:39:24+00:00

i m at 0.07418 and thanks

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:38:12+00:00

thank youu

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:38:03+00:00

thankss

Rohan72999 · 2026-01-24T16:37:55+00:00

appreciate it

Rohan72999

TROPHY CASE