Astronomers have revealed the astonishing fact that humans regularly perform what amounts to a form of time travel simply by looking at the stars in the night sky.
According to a statement issued by Cornell University, light emitted from distant stars takes light-years to reach Earth, which means that what we see in the sky today is actually an image of those celestial bodies from the distant past.
"The light coming from the most distant stars visible to the naked eye originated thousands of years ago, while the light captured by modern telescopes may have originated billions of years ago," explained Dr. Michael Boyle, professor of astronomy at Cornell University.
Astronomical data indicate that the star Deneb, visible to the naked eye, is approximately 2,600 light-years away, meaning that the light we see today left the star around the sixth century BC. Eta Carinae, 7,500 light-years away, appears to us as it did in the Neolithic period.
One of the most striking examples is the Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light-years away, which we see today as it was when our early human ancestors were evolving on Earth.
The discovery of Earendel in 2022 sparked particular interest among astronomers. This star is approximately 28 billion light-years away, making it a rare window into the very early universe.
Experts assert that this astronomical phenomenon provides humanity with a unique means of studying the history of the universe, as the night sky acts as a natural time machine that allows us to see the distant past without the need for any advanced technology.
Scientists add that the ongoing development of astronomical observation techniques may enable us in the future to obtain more accurate images of the cosmic past, which could help uncover many of the secrets of the origin and evolution of the universe.