[xwdv]

More than Pangea… if they mastered the ability to resolve vast distances they could show us the herds of dinosaurs roaming the world, and then their total extinction, a Timelapse of the rise of human civilization, ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, if only we could truly meet a civilization way down the line, or perhaps they would come to meet us, given their obsession.

[asxd]

It's cool to think that first contact between two space-faring civilizations could potentially involve a mutual exchange of detailed historical imagery that neither civilization could have captured on their own.

[xwdv]

Indeed, though it’s probably likely in the history of the universe this has never happened, as what are the odds of two distant civilizations separated by many light years meeting and both offering historial imagery to each other? The chance to capture relevant images will have passed if they do not specifically plan for it.

[asxd]

Probably unlikely, yeah. It would have to be the result of several lucky and serendipitous events, I'm sure. The idea of seeing into the past seems so other-worldly though, it's hard not to dream :-)

[JoeAltmaier]

Perhaps if there is a large reflector in space somewhere, that light could be passing back by us today! If we had a large enough collector, we could create an image.

[spaetzleesser]

In theory black holes could do that. Some photons will slingshot around it and go straight back.

[wumpus]

We haven't seen a photon ring yet, and when we do, there won't be that much information in them. Perhaps after technology has advanced another 1000X...