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ELI5: what are light years? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/josip333 on 2023-08-11 21:40:01.

I can't for the life of me grasp this concept. Why do they say that, when looking at the sun, we see where it was 8 minutes ago? Why, if someone where to look at earth being 65million light years away from, would they see dinosaurs?

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[–] Psythik@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Simply put, it's the distance light travels in a year. We see the sun as it was 8 minutes ago, because the sun is 8 light minutes away from earth.

To answer your other question: Yes, someone more than 65 million light years away from earth would be able to see dinosaurs if they had a telescope powerful enough to see something that far away with that much clarity. Such a telescope does not exist as far as humans on earth are aware.