Expert: Harry Hayfield - 8/24/2010

Question
I read the answer to how far we could see in space and had a further question. If we can see to near the beginning of time, how is that possible? and however it IS possible, does that mean we now know how to travel in time?

Answer
When you look up during the day, the furthest thing you can see is the sun. The sun is 93 million miles from us and light takes about 8 minutes to reach us, therefore the sun you are looking at is how the sun looked about 8 minutes ago.

When you look up during the night, the furthest thing you can see with the naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy which is 2½ million light years away (i.e we are seeing it as it was 2½ million years ago).

The further away an object is, the more distant it is in time as well as space.