If l travelled 4 light years away and look at earth through a telescope would l see me 4 years ago?

Question

If so lm going to get my inventing hat on because l lost a key 4 years ago and l need it now!

Answer 1

Well, nice try, but to travel away 4 light-years you would need more than four years. Even if somehow you could travel almost with the speed of light, acceleration and breaking would consume long time. Another problem that no scope would resolve the image of a human from that distance. On top of that, if you traveled fast enough, as you would return, you wouldn't find your friends and relatives, as they are already died, time for you passed much slower during the trip!
A better solution would be to find a mirror somewhere in the space, in a two light-year distance. Just aim your super-telescope at the mirror and look at yourself - 4 years ago!

Answer 2

No, because it would take you more than 4 years to travel that distance. As you were leaving Earth, light from the current time would be leaving with you, but travelling faster since you can't go faster than the speed of light. So by the time you got 4 light years away, you'd be seeing light that left Earth 4 years earlier, long after you did.

Answer 3

First off, remember nothing, not matter or energy or photons or information can exceed the speed of light, but you already knew that, right? So let's say you take off right now at very close to the speed of light. You'll get there in 4 years and say 1 day Earth time, and in 1 day in your reference frame. You then point your superduperscope at Earth. The light entering you scope was emitted 4 years ago, 1 day after you left. So you only see what happened on Earth after you left.

Now what if you radioed your alien buddy on Alpha Centauri to look through his scope? Your message would take 4 years to get to him. He/she/it then looks toward Earth, and again sees it as it was 4 years prior, which happens to be exactly when you sent the message, still no help.

The only way to find your key would be to find someone anywhere who saw what you did with it, whether that person was on Earth or not.

Hey, maybe someday we'll come in contact with an advanced species that has recorded every event on Earth since they discovered it. Maybe then they'll be able to tell you to look in the junk drawer under the box of staples.

Answer 4

I'm sorry but you're not going to get an answer that will satisfy you because the question is basically gibberish. You can't accelerate past the speed of light - and you certainly cant exceed it. The idea of of a telescope that sees at twice the speed of light is even more ridiculous. Do you mean it pulls light in to the lens at twice light speed? Do you think you see things by sucking in light? I dont think you need the key. I think you need to stay locked up wherever they're keeping you.

Answer 5

If you could instantly travel to a spot 4 light years away and looked through your super telescope, you would be seeing the visual light that originated 4 years ago. so theorectically you would be looking back in time yes!

Answer 6

This is great, if you could do that in less than 4 years then yeh but imagine the time it will take you to go 4 light years away from the earth

Answer 7

i think if you could travel faster than light and had a "magic" telescope that could focus say on the earth from a long way away then yes you would be looking back in time,is no different than looking at star light millions of years old..

Answer 8

Wow this one drew out the geeks. Is it even possible to see something that emits no light from 4 light years away with a telescope?

Good question though...

Answer 9

No. In order to get ahead of the light that you were reflecting 4 years ago, you would have to travel faster those four light years INSTANTLY, which is impossible, since you can't exceed the speed of light as measured in an inertial frame of reference.

Answer 10

If you travelled at the speed of light to get there it would take you 4 years - so you could only watch yourself take off.