how can we see planets that are like 100s of 1000s light years away? And when we do, aren’t we looking in the past?

Question

how can we see planets that are like 100s of 1000s light years away? And when we do, aren’t we looking in the past?

In: Other

Answer 1

We’ve never yet seen a planet outside the Solar System. What we see are indications of their existence. They pass in front of their star, causing a tiny but measurable dip in brightness. Or big ones cause the star’s position to wobble in a periodic fashion.