People are saying that The Pillars Of Creation have been destroyed, and will take 400-500 Million light years to reach us. Can someone explain how do we know it when the light hasn’t reached us?

Question

People are saying that The Pillars Of Creation have been destroyed, and will take 400-500 Million light years to reach us. Can someone explain how do we know it when the light hasn’t reached us?

In: 1444

Answer 1

The shiny from today hasn’t reached us, but shiny from the long long ago has reached us. We can see the general direction the pillars are moving with the shiny from the long long ago. Then we make a good guess.