If the stars we see are light from millions of light years away and they see our Sun’s light the same, is the whole universe “existing” in the same time?

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Hi all, I didn’t know how to formulate the question in a non stupid way so I’ll explain.

If the light we see from stars in the sky are actually “the past” as they’ve left their source light years ago, from another point in the universe another planet sees our Sun’s light the same way, correct?

If that’s the case, if there was an “universal year” or an “Universe’s current year”, would all the stars and planets be living in the same year?

Maybe I am 5, I feel 5 right now.

Thanks 🙂

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21 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Lets think of this like having penpals.

You send letters to a friend across the world, they send them back. Lets say it takes 5 days to reach them.

They describe their days, their challenges, their triumphs. You can’t celebrate on the same day they got a promotion, nor console them the day they lost a loved one.

But their life happens at the same time yours does. They got a promotion the same day you found a new favorite pizza place. Those two events aren’t connected at all, but they occurred on the same day. These event’s *can’t* be connected, as you won’t learn about their promotion for 5 days.

However, if you learn of the promotion, then decide to send them a bottle of Champaign to celebrate their promotion and they will receive this 10 days after their promotion. 5 days for you to learn about it, 5 days for them to receive the Champaign. These events can be (and are) linked.

We, and distant stars, exist at the same time. However what happens to the star can’t impact us until a long time has passed. And our reaction to it, cannot effect the star for a similarly long time.

Most interactions are so small there is no real impact.

However things like orbits are significant enough. Our star is shifted due the gravitation of other stars. Not much, but some. However we are shifted towards where they were when they ‘sent’ their message, not where they are now.

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