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so it wouldn't matter if the telescope could look very deep into space to a point where it looks like you're looking at the star as if itwas very close? would you still be looking at it in its past form, or would it simply not be there since you are so "close" to it. sorry if thissounds like a repeat of my first question...Originally Posted by Lieutenant Kif
^ well the telescope doesn't really make a difference, since the telescope and your eye are at the same place.
But yes, you are looking at the image of how it existed in the past. How far in the past depends on how many light years away it is.
If a star that is 20 light years away exploded today, and tomorrow wasn't there at all, then 20 years from now you would see all the light from that explosion. 20 years and 1 day from now you would see empty space where the star used to be. But during those 20 years, when the light was in transit, that space would have been empty, we just wouldn't have known it in those 20 years.