Reevaluating the Andromeda Paradox and Terrell-Penrose Effect in Light of Post-Relativistic Cosmology and Emergent Time:

Soumendra Nath Thakur 

April 07, 2025

The so-called Andromeda Paradox arises from a relativistic interpretation grounded in Einstein’s static universe—a pre-Hubble cosmological model. Hubble’s discovery of the expanding universe, however, invalidated the static model and, with it, undermined the consistency of certain relativistic propositions—especially those tying time dilation directly to velocity near the speed of light.

In this context, time is not a natural physical entity subject to contraction or dilation, but rather an emergent abstraction—arising from the progression of existential events. The Big Bang model clearly supports this: it is the existential event that gave rise to space and time, not the other way around. This understanding renders the relativistic idea of "frozen time" at light speed conceptually untenable.

The reference to the Terrell-Penrose effect, which replaces the older notion of Lorentz contraction with a rotated visual frame due to the differential arrival times of light rays from different parts of the object, is indeed a refined interpretation. However, this does not correct the foundational flaws. It remains embedded in the same relativistic structure that assumes a fixed speed of light governs both visual perception and temporal behavior. While visually more accurate, the Terrell-Penrose rotation does not resolve the deeper inconsistency of time as a physical entity, nor does it accommodate an expanding universe where spacetime itself evolves.

Furthermore, modern observations of distant galaxies receding faster than light due to space expansion show no such visual distortions or rotated frames as relativistic logic would suggest. These galaxies are seen clearly—not as thin 1D lines or rotated frames—which contradicts the visual and temporal predictions made by both Lorentz contraction and its Terrell-Penrose modification.

Thus, even this so-called “enriching logic” is still confined within a flawed framework that presupposes a static background and natural time. The relativistic structure, whether in its original or modified form, does not align with the empirical reality of an expanding universe where time is emergent and galaxy-scale observations defy relativistic visual expectations.