[kpwags]

That when we look up at distant stars, nebulas, & galaxies and the like...we are looking back in time. What we see could have been gone for decades, centuries, or longer.

[perardi]

“longer” is an understatement. The Andromeda galaxy, which is viewable by the naked eye, is 2.5 million lightyears away. And that’s the closest galaxy to us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy

[pyfgcrl123]

One of the closest, anyway. Yeah, most distant objects observed are over 10 billion years "in the past".

[m463]

Sort of similar to tree rings and even... dirt. We could probably dig in our backyards and find artifacts of 10,000 year old life. We are transient.