The Appearance of Fast Moving Objects

Introduction

The contraction of fast moving bodies in the direction of their velocity is a well-known result of special relativity: Different observers get different results when they measure the length of an object, the shorter the larger the relative speed between observer and object. Much less known is the fact that this so called Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction is invisible in the following sense: By looking at the moving object or by photographing it one does not observe it as shortened but, on the contrary, as lengthened and, under certain conditions, as deformed or twisted.