A place from which one could watch time outside move faster

Please reality check my place from which one could watch time outside move faster...

A space station constantly moving at near light speed. The space station is created by a race with superior technology. They are running experiments that will take ages to complete so they want time to pass faster for them than the experiments will take. They are long lived but not immortal. If you are on this space station time would move slow, and things outside would go really fast. So"¦

• The space station can move at near the speed of light. It reached near light speed through conventional means (ion drive, light sails, mpd engine, etc.) sustained propulsion until it achieved the desired speed.

• It is heavily shielded so it can withstand the cosmic rays that will constantly slam against it.

• It is in orbit around a star.

• For energy it uses the solar energy of the star it orbits (and maybe even the cosmic rays too.

• It's close enough to the star to get its energy, but not close enough that it will get pulled into it.

• It's large enough to house hundreds of thousands of their race, and is a self-sustaining habitat: Food, water, air. Etc. When they run dangerously close to running out of something they slow down enough to let someone go out to get whatever they need, and when they get back they start up again.

So my main question is: Have I covered all the bases for time to pass faster for the inhabitants of this space station?

My sub-question is: Will the space station moving so fast look like a ring in orbit around the star?

EDIT:

I second guessed myself. I initially thought black hole instead of a star, as many of you are now suggesting, but I was worried about gravitational pull and energy needs for the space station. These are still issues if we switch from orbit around a star to one just outside a black hole's event horizon, yes?

posted almost 7 years ago

Len‭

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