Author Topic: Is it possible to look into the past, using mirrors?  (Read 3195 times)

Okay like, if there was a giant mirror 1 light away facing earth, and we had like a perfect telescope pointed to it, and looked in it, would we be seeing earth, 1 year ago, because of the time it takes for light to go from earth to the mirror? If that's the case, in the far future when we get light speed traveling, we could place mirrors thousands of light years away and see what happened thousands of years ago! That's loving awesome.

Idk man I think of weird stuff sometimes.


Okay like, if there was a giant mirror 1 light away facing earth, and we had like a perfect telescope pointed to it, and looked in it, would we be seeing earth, 1 year ago, because of the time it takes for light to go from earth to the mirror? If that's the case, in the far future when we get light speed traveling, we could place mirrors thousands of light years away and see what happened thousands of years ago! That's loving awesome.

Idk man I think of weird stuff sometimes.


Holy stuff

but if we travel at light speed, there's no way to catch up to the light from earth's past. because we aren't moving faster than it is.

assuming you could just drop a mirror anywhere in space in an instant, yeah, this would work. i think.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2014, 10:42:34 AM by .:FancyPants:. »

but if we travel at light speed, there's no way to catch up to the light from earth's past. because we aren't moving faster than it is.
if you travel at exactly light speed, for 1 light year, that takes 1 year. then it takes 1 year for the photons that hit the mirror to make it all the way back to earth. so it would be like to viewing things exactly 1 year (it's actually 2 years now that i think about it) in the past.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2014, 10:48:14 AM by Ipquarx »

Didn't Gavin ask that on the last Rooster Teeth Podcast?

if you travel at exactly light speed, for 1 light year, that takes 1 year. then it takes 1 year for the photons that hit the mirror to make it all the way back to earth. so it would be like to viewing things exactly 1 year (it's actually 2 years now that i think about it) in the past.

If you do it half a light-year away, it'd be one year in the past, right?

But dude OP this is some crazy stuff

This topic hurts my brain

If you could teleport giant mirrors, and had a perfect telescope, and you put a giant mirror exactly 1 light year away from earth, then you would have to wait two years for the light to travel all the way to the mirror (one year) and then all the way back to your telescope (another year)

how can stars be real if our eyes aren't real

Please note that you don't have to teleport them, or move at light speed, if it's x light-years from earth no matter how it got there, it'll look 2x years in the past.

how can stars be real if our eyes aren't real
I was gonna fukin post that god damn it

Please note that you don't have to teleport them, or move at light speed, if it's x light-years from earth no matter how it got there, it'll look 2x years in the past.
Yes, but I assumed that it was teleported, because if we get it there at light speed, it would take an entire year for it to get there.

My point was that if it's x ammount of light years away from earth, you can use it to see 2x ammount of years into the past.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2014, 11:04:02 AM by blueblur121 »

Dude, it's almost like you can only see the past cause light isn't instantaneous, mannnn!

If there was a giant mirror one light-year away, it would be a grand total of 2 years for the light to make it to it and then come back, correct?