Apparent distortion of relativistically moving objects.

Objects moving at velocities near the speed of light may appear to have undergone marked distortions of form and aspect when viewed by a stationary observer. A procedure for finding these distortions based on the relativistic transformation law for light rays is outlined, and applied to specific examples. It is also found that lines appearing straight at rest may appear curved when in motion at high speed. The role of the finite velocity of light is illustrated by means of a nonrelativistic model.