In our lifetime, is it possible to see a supernova? If the light takes so long to get here, than we'd have to wait millions - billions of years to see a supernova, and even by then, wouldn't it have already happened billions of years ago, making what we're seeing like time travel, in a way?
2007-10-21 02:52:44 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
It's possible to see a supernova at any time. One might happen next week. There have been several recorded throughout history.
But you're correct in saying that we might have to wait millions of years for the light from it to reach us. But the light you see from other stars started on its way hundreds or thousands of years ago. The further you look into space, the further you are looking 'back' in time.
Doug
2007-10-21 02:59:20 · answer #1 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have observed a couple of super novae already. When the Crab Nebula was formed by a star going SN it was recorded in ancient China. It was written that the light was so bright that it was visible during the day.
Another SN was discovered in 1987 by an Australian amateur astronomer. It was in one of the Megallenic clouds which are around 200,000 ly away.
2007-10-21 04:09:35 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
well it might feel like that because you are seeing what happened millions of years ago. in fact now that i think of it, it is probably possible to see the past. if we could travel faster than light and manage to get ahead of the light that was given off by our sun millions of years ago, then we would be able to see what has happened million of years ago. i am not sure if that's how it works. if the light contains the image that it was released from then its is possible i guess, and it does because that's how we can see, by translating light into image.
2007-10-21 03:05:24 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is in fact possible. This may be so because the star has already supernova'd and the light has as of yet to reach us. However, to have the actual explosion AND for us to see it would be close to impossible considering how long it takes to see it. Hope that helps
2007-10-21 03:06:17 · answer #4 · answered by Salai 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
yeah it is time travel what we see now from the distance stars but by the time when get that star it would be present time
2007-10-21 03:01:39 · answer #5 · answered by sameep b 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋