This thought was kicked around when I was young: “The light we see from the stars may actually be from one that is extinguished.” Was this true? If so how is this possible?
The thought is based on the fact that the velocity of light is not infinite, but just under 300,000 km/second (or 186,262 mi/second). It takes light more than eight minutes to get from the Sun to Earth; you can think of it as seeing the Sun as it was eight minutes ago. It takes light 4+ years to travel to us from Alpha Centauri, 8+ years from Sirius, 2.5 million from the Andromeda galaxy, and so on. So if a star explodes (goes out) “tonight,” we won’t know until the light from the event arrives.
Theoretically its possible that some have extinguished (see Sanduleak -69o 202) but the fact that a stars lifespan can be measured in millions and billions of years makes this unlikely.
I’ll echo Ferguson and say: “my mind is exalted” and I can cross that off my list.
Renz
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ED
One Comment
well, I’m at the early stages of star gazing. I do know it’s comforting being able to pick out different star formations at different times of the year. It means civilization hasn’t taken over yet. To think that what I’m seeing all happened before I was born is mind blowing.