Eli5 how telescope works? How can you look at other planets and solar system but not new york from alasca?

Question

Eli5 how telescope works? How can you look at other planets and solar system but not new york from alasca?

In: Physics

Answer 1

You look at other planets in a straight line – that’s why you can’t see them when they’re on the other side of the earth.

Both cities your mentioned are on the planet, though, and the planet isn’t flat, so there’s no straight line to see along.

While light can definitely be affected by gravity, it isn’t by something as relatively low-mass as a mere planet – you need superheavy objects for that, like black holes.