Voyager, special relativity and the twin paradox

[tom33pr]

Let's assume we separated two twins back in 1977 and one of them was taken on a long Voyager journey.

The probe turned back after 17 yrs and just arrived back.

I was wondering what the age difference there would be between them?

Are we talking minutes, hours or maybe even days already

I'm sure this has been calculated somewhere...

[brantuk]

I seem to remember the three astronauts that first set foot on the moon came back three mins younger (or was it 3 mins older) - coulda been seconds actually lol.

Anyway - it's a good place to start your research

[Tomjo59]

My calculation, assuming that Voyager 1 travelled at a constant velocity of 62,762 km/hour (its approximate present velocity) for the whole journey, which it didn't, and using the method at:

Time Dilation,

I get an age difference of just over 5 hours.

Of course, I stand to be corrected!

[tom33pr]

The constant velocity assumption is correct.

Tomjo - 5 hours makes sense! It is actually more than I expected.

Thanks.

[tom33pr]

Having thought about it there's yet another paradox hidden here.

It shows that the straight worldline (of the twin on the Earth) is longer [time wise] than the curved one (with a massive distance), on which the second twin travels in the probe

Would this stand or I'm making a wrong assumption here?

[Theinvoker]

You may want to see how much difference gravitational time dilation makes as well

(and if you are feeling really clever, account for any gravitational assists along the way)