If two spaceships travel in opposite direction at .6c (the speed of light) from earth, then why aren’t they exceeding the speed of light relative to each other?

Question

I understand that if I am standing on earth and a space ship takes off and travels at .6c, then I perceive the space traveler receding at .6c relative to me, and the space traveler perceive me as receding at .6c relative to him. If another traveler takes off in the 180-degree opposite direction, then likewise I perceive the other space traveler receding at .6c relative to me, and the other space traveler perceive me as receding at .6c relative to him.

So why don’t they perceive each other as traveling faster than c, the speed of light?

In: 29

Answer 1

So there are going to be some REALLY clever answers here that probably explain this a lot better than I can. BUT:

They are… from the perspective of an observer at rest at the starting point but importantly neither exceeds C itself from the perspective of the observer.

What happens on each of the ships traveling at .6C is that their own observations of the other are distorted by their own relativistic speeds and they appear to be moving slower, as space behind you is stretched and space infront of you is compressed.