According to scientists, every time we look up at the sky, we witness events from thousands, or even millions, of years ago. The light from the stars carries traces of the past.

Time travel has been one of humanity’s greatest dreams pursued for centuries.

In science fiction movies, this concept is often made possible with gigantic machines or complex devices. Films like Back to the Future, Interstellar, and Austin Powers portray time travel in interesting ways. Even BBC’s iconic comedy series Blackadder created a time machine with a simple juicer and a piece of wood. However, scientists suggest that time travel is simpler than we think. And we don’t need a machine for it. All we have to do is look up at the sky and the stars.

“WE SEE THE PAST WITH OUR EYES”

According to astronomer Dr. Michael Boyle from Cornell University in New York, the light coming from stars takes thousands, even billions, of years to reach our eyes.

“The scale of the universe is so vast that even light, which is the fastest thing in the universe, takes long periods to travel these distances,” says Dr. Boyle. This means one thing: when we see the stars in the sky, we are actually witnessing their past states. Some stars that we observe might have already disappeared while we watch them. THE LIGHT FROM THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO REACHES US

For example, the star Deneb in the northern sky is 2,600 light-years away. So, when we look at that star, we are actually seeing its state from the 6th century BC. This corresponds to the time when the Roman monarchy ended, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built. Likewise, the Eta Carinae star system is 7,500 light-years away. This means its light set off when humans were just discovering agriculture. The light from the farthest galaxy visible to the naked eye, Andromeda, started its journey 2.5 million years ago. This period marked the beginning of the last Ice Age when primitive humans (Homo habilis) began to inhabit the earth. Physicist Prof. Christopher Baird from West Texas A&M University says, “We can’t know whether a star currently exists.” Because stars can explode as supernovae, get absorbed by black holes, or consume all their fuel and fade away.

The most distant star discovered so far, Earendel, is a whopping 28 billion light-years away. However, it took 13 billion years for its light to reach us. According to Dr. Boyle, “A star that bright most likely has already disappeared.” Could aliens be watching dinosaurs? The most interesting part is this: If a civilization 65 million light-years away has a powerful enough telescope, they might be seeing dinosaurs when looking at Earth right now! Although science has not reached this point yet, theoretically, it may be possible to observe the past with advanced telescopes one day. Perhaps through stars, we will eventually be able to watch real images from the past.