When NASA releases images of objects that are light years away, are we viewing the image in real time?

1 Answer
chandramohanPanakkal
Jan 28, 2016

The light takes time to travel.
Speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second in vacuum.

Explanation:

When you see an image of Andromeda galaxy with Hubble telescope.., the photons that hit the telescope have taken 2.5 million years to reach Hubble telescope. The image shows how Andromeda was 22.5 million years ago.You can not see any thing far away in real time.The reason light takes time.
So the sun is 8.2 light minutes away.Moon is 1.2 light seconds way.
Star Sirius is 8.2 light years away.

Related questions
See all questions in Astronomy Basics
Impact of this question
1004 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License