If I looked at the earth through a telescope from 500 light years away, would I be able to observe life on earth in 1524?

Question

Imagine I have a telescope with strong enough zoom to observe the earth like google maps street view, if I looked at the earth very closely from 500 light years away, would I see 1524 happening in real time? Or time as it is now?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

Yes. Because the light leaving Earth would travel for 500 years before or reached the lense of your scope.

However… This magical telescope would be on the scale of the size of an entire solar system. And then you’d need a way to track the movement of the Earth, and tune out the insane amount of light noise from the sun.