Originally Posted by adultinnovation

1 light-year away → see 1 year into the past
1,000 light-years → see 1,000 years into the past
300,000 light-years → see 300,000 years into the past
66 million light-years → see dinosaurs


—if Aliens living 66 million light years away had telescopes powerful enough to resolve Earth’s surface from 66 million light-years away, they would see dinosaurs walking around right now.

They would literally be watching dinosaurs live (from their point of view).

Not recordings.
Not guesses.
Actual ancient Earth in real time—from their perspective.

They would be able to see dinosaurs for as long as dinosaurs actually existed on Earth—not just a moment—millions of years from their point of view. 🦖🌍

The image wouldn’t suddenly “break up.” It would change gradually as newer light arrives.

Think of it like a continuous movie, not a snapshot 🎬

Earth is constantly sending out light in every direction. Every moment:

Light reflects off Earth’s surface
That light carries an image of that exact moment
Each moment creates a new “frame” of Earth’s history
Those frames travel outward in sequence, like frames in a movie

So if aliens were 66 million light-years away, they would receive:

First: light from about 66 million years ago → dinosaurs alive
Later: light from 65.9 million years ago → still dinosaurs
Much later: light from 66 million years ago at extinction time → dinosaurs disappearing during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event

From their perspective, they’d watch millions of years of dinosaur history unfold.