As everybody knows, nothing can exceed the speed of light, except of course light itself. Recent cutting edge research has established that light can travel faster through certain mediums than it can through a vacuum.
With exceedingly distant objects like Quasars, or 28th magnitude galaxies, it is inconceivable that light coming to us from these can travel entirely through nothing but a vacuum for the entire journey.
Statistical projections indicate that the light from any distant object must pass through a total of 37.9 parsecs of interstellar gas clouds per million light years of distance travelled, with the result that a beam of light will emerge from the gas cloud with a higher velocity than when it went in.
The cumulative slingshot effect of passage through multiple gas clouds means that light from very distant objects continues to accelerate with each ingress and egress.
This continuous, yet irregular acceleration stretches the wavelengths of light in such a manner as to induce a red shift effect, so that as much as 75 percent of the perceived red shift of distant objects is not caused by recession but by light speeding up.
This finding has profound indications for the accepted distance scale of the Universe as well as the prospects of finding extra terrestrial life, as more advanced life forms than us may well have developed "light drives" to power space vehicles and have figured out how to travel through the Universe at warp speed.
The Professor has asked Baron Beavis Von Buttköpf to recalibrate a spectroscope in accordance with a formula he has devised, and to carry out a pilot survey at the Schlöss Rattshärz Observatory in order to refine the distance estimates of a number of key objects like M31 and the Whirlpool Galaxy. Professional astronomers worldwide are nervously awaiting the outcome.
Meanwhile, scientists in West Texas have been developing a prototype "light drive" propulsion system which they claim may one day be used to propel spacecraft at speeds exceeding that of light.
This prototype light drive propulsion system has been claimed to have produced positive results so far, and tests have shown that this new advanced "light drive" propulsion system will one day allow humans to explore deep into our Milky Way galaxy in record time, with manned-missions to Alpha Centauri - a distance of 4.3 light-years - in less than 18 months of travelling time.
The location of the laboratory being used to develop the "light drive" system is highly classified, so much so that not even the President of the United States is privy to its whereabouts.
However, our sources have revealed that the laboratory is close to the town of Crowell in West Texas.
Although the prototype's development is classified under the highest level of security, we have managed to obtain an image of the prototype "light drive" system in action during a recent test at the West Texas laboratory (see image, bottom right).
As can be seen in the image, the characteristic brilliant blue glow of Cerenkov radiation is obvious as it emanates from the four main cores of the test reactor.