r/woahdude • u/Waynegravsky • Oct 09 '14

text Deep Thoughts

http://imgur.com/gallery/LkQUP
10.0k Upvotes

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45

u/jaird30 Oct 09 '14

If the dinosaur one is accurate does that mean from 20 light years away I could see myself as a kid?

114

u/piktas Oct 09 '14

Not if you're 50.

35

u/a13xand3r Oct 09 '14

Deep......

8

u/sobeita Oct 09 '14

Yes and no.

Yes, if receiving at least some light from a source is the same as seeing it.

No, for the same reason you don't see separate red, green, and blue LED's when you look at a pixel on your screen from a distance. Also, you could never outrun your own light emissions, or even pace them, so instead of seeing a younger and younger image of yourself, you'd see a copy of your current self, aging at slightly less than your current rate while you travel.

22

u/Soluhwin Oct 09 '14

or, if you put a mirror is space 10 lightyears away.

5

u/zgardner44 Oct 09 '14

This wouldn't work, because we wouldn't be able to able to focus on it with our telescopes. It's the same reason we don't have a detailed picture of pluto.

12

u/Arkbot Oct 09 '14

Well the original premise doesn't work either. A telescope 65 million light years away isn't going to pick out dinosaurs.

31

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '14

If we are advance enough to place a telescope that far away, i'm sure we have figured a way to aim that telescope at Cleopatra's vagina with HD clarity.

3

u/OruTaki Oct 09 '14

Yeah the inverse square law puts a stop to any of that nonsense. It's the same reason all the radio waves we emit from earth degrade down to background noise after a few light years. Kinda disapointing really... Think of all the cool shit we could see and hear if the inverse square law took a break for a little bit.

1

u/Bohzee Oct 09 '14

imagine if we would be able to travel fast through space, then we finally reach that one planet we aimed for, only to realize we're back on earth because the universe is is a loop somehow

1

u/TheDonkeyWheel Oct 10 '14

Did you just spoil the plot of Interstellar for me?!

6

u/clamdigger90 Oct 09 '14

It's an interesting idea but no. If you're that far away the light from the earth is washed out by our sun.

6

u/Barneyk Oct 09 '14

Well, no.

The visual information from just 20 years ago to that detail is lost. So the dinosaur one is completely false.

But in a pretend world where light didn't work like it does it could work.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '14

1

u/Barneyk Oct 09 '14

You can fly right now. Just go somewhere with less gravity... :)

3

u/ufailowell Oct 09 '14

You would have to instantly transport to 20 light years away and then use an extremely powerful telescope.