Are those stars moving past the window when the ship is at warp?

Question

When the enterprise (ENT) is moving at warp we see numerous stars flying past in the windows:

However, according to warp speed charts, at warp 5 (the maximum speed of the 1st enterprise) it would take 7.4 days to get from the Sun to Alpha Centari, our nearest star(s) approximately 4 light years away. So to have stars whizzing past every few seconds would imply that the stars are very close together.

Is this an inaccurate depiction of star movement at warp, or is there some explanation like the warp bubble creates a lensing effect?

Now I realise the classic answer is "suspend your disbelief, it's a tv show", but the animators have at least thought about the star movement as they have added in a bit of red shift and blue shift which you can see in the image.

Answer 1

Main Canon

There are several instances within the script (seen on screen) and the script directions that indicate that the streamers are in fact stars;

Hoshi in Ent: Fight or Flight explicitly states that the movement is caused by stars:

ARCHER: Yes.

HOSHI: The stars are going the wrong way, sir.

ARCHER: Wrong way?

HOSHI: On both my training tours, I had port side quarters. I'm having trouble sleeping.

Within the scripts

From TNG: Unnatural Selection

BEYOND THE PORTS the stars streak toward us at warp speed.

Rina has a clear view.

RINA: Beautiful, isn't it?

GEORDI'S POV -- He "sees" the ship's navigational shield as a gossamer scrim of shimmering color, and beyond, countless waves of energy bursting from exploding suns.

And from TNG: The Vengeance Factor

MAROUK: A light meal in twenty minutes.

Yuta nods in obedience, but Marouk has already turned away to look out the port at the stars streaking by.

And from TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise

EXT. The ship is traveling at WARP SPEED and the stars STREAK by

And from TNG: Tin Man

INT. TAM ELBRUN'S GUEST QUARTERS (OPTICAL) - TAM is STANDING by the long WINDOW, face half-away from the camera, watching the STARS STREAK BY at warp.

And from DS9: Once More Unto the Breach

The viewscreen shows the stars as they begin to streak by at warp, the crew go about their jobs with a professional precision

And from TNG: The Emissary

EXT. SPACE - THE ENTERPRISE (OPTICAL)

as the probe "pulls up alongside" to starboard as the stars streak past at warp nine.

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Contradictions

Obviously the flipside of this is when we see Zephran Cochrane's ship at warp within the Sol system and yet still see star streamers. This can potentially be explained by the presence of interstellar dust interacting with the warp field or deflector fields (which Cochrane may or may not have had). Highly accelerated particles would glow as they suddenly gained momentum.

That being said, the script then disagrees further, referring the the streaks as both "stars" and "warp stars"

As Picard and Geordi are slammed back into their seats and the stars WHIP PAST the windows in the familiar warp effect.

and

GEORDI: Dropping out of warp.

Out the front windows, the warp stars STOP... the ship JOLTS slightly... turns to the left... Earth can be seen in the distance.

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A similar effect occurs in TNG: Descent when the ship is traveling at high impulse.

Answer 2

Richard's answer is a good one. But I want to add. I don't see anything there that categorically indicates the 'warp star effect' actually exists in-universe. The closest we have is @Richard's first quote

HOSHI: The stars are going the wrong way, sir.

This doesn't deny the possibility that as you pass near stars, they go by a particular direction. This would be visible, but not as thousands of streaks every minute. So Hoshi could still say this.

Everything else is a script indication of visual effects only.

So I'm offering the (admitted less likely possibility) that

The 'warp star effect' may not be visible in-universe at all, and only exists to convey motion to the audience.

Answer 3

The only reason for stars to streak past at that speed is if the ship is spinning.

Normally, this would mean that regardless of the window you look out of the stars should be going the same direction, but we are talking about warp technology here.

Warping space means that normal concepts like left, right, forward, and back change meaning.

Imagine that the warped space folds inwards at the nose of the ship. In birds eye view: The right side of the ship is spinning counterclockwise and the left side of the ship is spinning clockwise at the same time.

Answer 4

TV audiences need some visual indication that a ship is moving, and not just a stationary field of stars whose positions change very slightly over a period of a day or so. But maybe Star Fleet crew also find this visual indication useful, so that they can see at a glance that the ship is moving, and how fast it's going. Since it seems likely that all the "windows" on starships are actually computer screens fed from external cameras, the moving star effect may simply be programmed in to give this useful visual indication.

Answer 5

I always just assumed that the warp field did something to the light coming from distant stars. If the light that is coming from a distant star is only reaching our eyes as a point of light, surely traveling towards them at warp would cause us to see much more of that light in a shorter amount of time, and if the warp bubble is not completely static then it could be possible that it has a refractory effect on the light rays coming into the bubble, bouncing them out again and appearing as streaks.