How To See Back In Time - Science, Not Science Fiction
How to See Back in Time
By Elton Camp
To time travel like Dr. Brown & Marty McFly
Is impossible and we know the reason why
Some speed limits we may exceed & curse
But not the speed limit of the entire universe
Nothing material may exceed the speed of light
Which physical law puts time travel out of sight
But what has happened in the past we may see
You may be surprised at how easy that can be
If I look at the house that lies across the street
It takes time for the house’s light my eye to meet
But it’s so short that it doesn’t matter anyhow
For all practical purpose, I am seeing it now
It is different when it is our Moon that I see
It takes 1.3 seconds for that image to reach me
What I actually am seeing is the moon of the past
Light isn’t instantaneous, although it sure is fast
For objects farther away, the time lag is greater
The sun’s light reaches me 8.3 minutes later
So if the sun somehow has ceased to exist,
For that period of time it won’t even be missed
The nearest star appears as it was 4.2 years ago
If it is still the way it was, there’s no way to know
Light from Andromeda Galaxy gets here at last
What we see existed 2.3 million years in the past
So, if into the past, you should ever wish to see
Look into the night sky and there the past will be
It isn’t only into the depths of space that we stare
But it is the past that we see displayed right there
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