Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: And I thought you were the smarter one in the family.

I think you have an interesting hypothesis, but let's approach it from a different angle shall we
SDF — (archived)

The speed of light varies with the density of the medium it propagates though. It has a maximum in a total vacuum where particulate matter density equals zero. Where gravity occurs there is always an accumulation of matter, so density is not zero, and the speed of light will not be maximized. This might argue in favor of your idea that light pressure would be higher in areas of total vacuum, and lower nearer to stars, planetary bodies, etc. Hence, particles of matter might tend to be pushed together by background radiation pressure, forming clusters separated by voids. This is an intuitive description assuming light travels as particles.

But light also behaves like a wave. If we assume a simplistic 2-dimensional representation, the lightwave has a bell-curve shape and tapers into infinity in both directions, expanding at the speed of light in all directions while simultaneously moving at the speed of light in a specific direction. It can therefore interfere with other waves at any distance, either constructively or destructively. The path of a photon can therefore be bent around an object thousands of kilometers away. This is a non-intuitive description assuming light travels as a wave.

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