seeing the past?

Question

the say the hubble telescope can see 100 million light-years into the past. so let's say i'm on planet x a hundred million light years from earth w/ my own hubble...i'd be able to see dinosaurs and the rise and fall of the roman empire, even moses parting the red sea, right?

so, if i'm on planet x, 100 million light years from earth, right now, in the earth year 2007 ad and i have my hubble aimed at present day 1600 pennsylvania ave in dc, i wouldn't see the white house until 100 million years later, correct?

Answer 1

Yes, when you see light from distant objects, you are looking at the past.

However, to see earth's past, you will need to travel much faster than light, and arrive at an arbitrary point before the light gets there.

Even then, it will be unlikely that you will be able to pick up the details.

Answer 2

Technically, you are correct. If you are 100 million lightyears from something, you will see the light that was generated or reflected there 100 million years ago. The problem is the width of your observing field and the amount of light available. Even with state-of- the-art magnification, there is a limit to the resolution of an image.

First, only a tiny fraction of the light a star generates is reflected off its planets. Nearly all the extra-solar planets have been detected indirectly because the light of their own stars overwhelms them. But even if your target were bright enough, you are looking at a steady stream of photons from a source that is radiating in all directions. The farther away you are, the fewer photons per direction on the leading edge of the advancing wave of light. (The width of your target diminishes too.) There may simply not be enough photons coming in your direction to reveal more than the presence of a star.

It took months for the Hubble to collect enough light during its Ultra Deep Field Survey to produce an image, revealing hundreds of galaxies in a very small field, but each one occupying a few hundred pixels at most, enough to identify its shape but with no details. Increasing the magnification would require an even longer exposure and reduce the chance of detecting any faster moving objects.

Most camera satellites orbiting Earth have trouble picking out anything narrower than a couple of meters, much less individual people. The largest Earth telescopes can't resolve the Apollo moon landing sites. Trying to pick out features on a planet light years away will be very impractical for the forseeable future.

Answer 3

Ya u d see them

if the technology can take u and ur hubble 100 million light years away at more than the speed of the light, the same technology can make sure you neednt go that far. Also u have to travel in more than 100 million times the speed of light so as to reach the planet x before the light from the earth reaches u

Happy journey

ALMIGHTY

Answer 4

This is because of the finite speed of light. When we look at objects that are very large distances away from us, the light that is hitting us now will have started from the object quite a long time ago, so in effect we aren't looking at what the object looks like now but what it looked like some time ago (when the light was emitted).

For example, Alpha Centurus, which is the closest star to us, is about 3 light years away. This means that the light we see from it now left the star about 3 years ago. Something catastrophic could have happened to the star within those three years and we can't know about it yet (it's unlikely by the way!).

Even the light from the Sun takes about 8 minutes to reach us here on Earth, so when you look up at the Sun you see it as it was 8 minutes ago! (PS. It's not advisable to look at the Sun too closely as you can damage you eyes).

Answer 5

Defenitely,U can see every thing from that planet x with the help of Hubble telescope.
The logic is very simple.Suppose a group of photons hits the dinosarus body and reflects in may directions.This reflection occured at 100 million years ago.So now the group photons are at the distance 100 million light years.And if that group of reflected photons are not absorbed by any black hole and if they are safely moving U can get a clear image of them.

Any doubts regarding this mail [e-mail]

Answer 6

I don't know about Moses, but yes... The light from Earth would take 100 million years to reach you so you would see Earth as it was 100 million years ago... Full of Dinos.

Answer 7

This can only happen when u are just now on other planet at some considerable distance.and u don't plan to take a million year trip to that planet......this happens because light coming from earth to that planet is very old....and it will show u images of earth's past....
Don't take this time as universal one....which we usually do take...

Answer 8

In theory YES. If you could get such a resolution. In practice NO. All you get is a very dim images of various wave lengths whether in the visible or invisible spectrum of light from the star of a system not it's planets.

Answer 9

This is misleading.

What the Hubble actually sees is light supposedly emitted millions of years ago finally hitting our equipment. It doesn't see the past, it sees old light.

Answer 10

Every thing you see you are seeing as it was some time ago.
Looking at your neighbor,the sun or a distant galaxy,the time lag is simply different in each case.