Seeing into the past

[Genius]

I bet you all know that when you're looking at the sun, you're probably looking 8 minutes into the past. But I was thinking... If someone is standing on Mars or even on the moon, and has a powerful telescope, by using it to look at the earth, will the person be seeing into the past? And if he/she is, how far into the past?

 

[TimeFlipper]

I bet you all know that when you're looking at the sun, you're probably looking 8 minutes into the past. But I was thinking... If someone is standing on Mars or even on the moon, and has a powerful telescope, by using it to look at the earth, will the person be seeing into the past? And if he/she is, how far into the past?

No they wont be seeing into the past, telescopes only enlarge the image you are looking at, and i strongly suggest not ever looking directly into the sun without the necessary eye protection

 

[Genius]

I bet you all know that when you're looking at the sun, you're probably looking 8 minutes into the past. But I was thinking... If someone is standing on Mars or even on the moon, and has a powerful telescope, by using it to look at the earth, will the person be seeing into the past? And if he/she is, how far into the past?

No they wont be seeing into the past, telescopes only enlarge the image you are looking at

What I'm trying to say is... If you look at the stars with or without your telescope, the further they are, the longer it takes for the light from them to reach us. Which is why, you won't be looking at how they are "now". In fact, some of the stars that you look at every night, may no longer exist. It's true that a telescope would only enlarge the image, but if the person is very far from earth, and he/she tries to look at the earth, that person won't be looking at the earth " now". He/she would be looking into the past. The telescope will just enlarge the image, so he/she can see what's happening.

 

[Genius]

I bet you all know that when you're looking at the sun, you're probably looking 8 minutes into the past. But I was thinking... If someone is standing on Mars or even on the moon, and has a powerful telescope, by using it to look at the earth, will the person be seeing into the past? And if he/she is, how far into the past?

i strongly suggest not ever looking directly into the sun without the necessary eye protection

I always do.

 

[Genius]

Alright now... If I'm completely wrong about all of this, please tell me.

 

[TimeFlipper]

I bet you all know that when you're looking at the sun, you're probably looking 8 minutes into the past. But I was thinking... If someone is standing on Mars or even on the moon, and has a powerful telescope, by using it to look at the earth, will the person be seeing into the past? And if he/she is, how far into the past?

i strongly suggest not ever looking directly into the sun without the necessary eye protection

I always do.

Good man

 

[Martian]

Retarded time - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Harte]

I bet you all know that when you're looking at the sun, you're probably looking 8 minutes into the past. But I was thinking... If someone is standing on Mars or even on the moon, and has a powerful telescope, by using it to look at the earth, will the person be seeing into the past? And if he/she is, how far into the past?

Every time you look at anything, you are seeing that thing in the past, since light does not travel instantaneously.
This has nothing at all to do with whether or not you use a telescope.
How far into the past you are looking depends on the distance to the object you are looking at.
If you are on Mars looking at the Earth, you are seeing the Earth in the past. How far into the past depends on where Mars is with respect to the Earth, as this distance varies with time (Mars and Earth don't orbit the Sun as a pair, sometimes Mars is on the other side of the Sun from us.)

Harte