Aaron@ScotsCollege
Observe time dilation, length contraction, and the relativity of simultaneity.
World-map vs. World-picture: There is a pervasive misconception about what Special Relativity actually looks like. This simulation represents a World-map—a coordinate plot of what is measured to be happening simultaneously across space after accounting for the time it takes light to travel to a detector.
It is not a World-picture (what you would visually see with your naked eyes or a camera). Because of the finite speed of light (the relativistic Doppler effect and Penrose-Terrell rotation), if you physically watched an approaching train at 0.866c, the light from the clock would hit your eyes compressed. You would actually visually see the approaching clock ticking faster (not slower) and the train appearing longer (not contracted)! Time dilation and length contraction are measured phenomena, not optical illusions.