If our nearest galaxy is 2.5million light years away , then the pictures taken from hubble telescope.........?

Question

what we see today should be that of galaxies 2.5 million years ago, as light will take so much time to reach the telescope? please tell if iam right

Answer 1

Yes, that is correct.  You are looking back in time.

Answer 2

I'm just answering to confirm the correct answers before me.

Shawn, I think you mean 186,000 miles per SECOND.

Answer 3

Yes, you are absolutely right. All the pictures taken by the Hubble Telescope are the part of reality. If you have seen any picture of galaxy that is 2.5 million light years away from the earth; then it means that very picture is formed by the light rays which were emitted by that galaxy about 150,000,000 years ago.  Now, you can calculate  time required by these rays to the earth by the formula:    t=d/c  where

t= time required

d= distance traveled

c= velocity of light in space (3*10^3 m/s)

Answer 4

Yes, but dont get caught up in the idea that your looking back in time!

Answer 5

yes that's right.

light travels at light speed (hence the term) this is mainly based in the terms of how far light travels in a year (second to it would be how far light travels every second, which is 186,000 miles per second) so the light from a star 1 light year away, took 1 year to get here...

and yes you ARE looking into the past, in every sense.... you're seeing what took 2.5 million years to get here, 2.5 million years ago is the past...

something tells me the third poster is confusing the terms 'look back in the time' and 'time travel'

EDIT: corrected, sorry i'm tired. something about all those 'seconds' must've confused me lol.

Answer 6

Yes, you are right.

But galaxies are moving very slowly. For example, our Galaxy rotates with one round per 250 millions of years. This is called "galactic year". So, we see neighbour galaxy just several "galactic days" ago.

Answer 7

You are correct.  The HST receives the light and records it's image.  In your particular case, it is the light image of the galaxy that left it approximately 2.5 million years ago.  Of course, different galaxies will be of different distances, thus the photos will be of different ages.