Things in space being “xxxx lightyears away”, therefore light from the object would take “xxxx years to reach us on earth”

Question

I don’t really understand it, could someone explain in basic terms?

Are we saying if a star is 120 million lightyears away, light from the star would take 120 million years to reach us? Meaning from the pov of time on earth, the light left the star when the earth was still in its Cretaceous period?

In: 292

Answer 1

Yes, exactly. Light isn’t instant, it takes time to travel. I compare it to throwing a ball. It takes a few seconds for the ball to reach the person you are throwing it to. If catching the ball was all The information they have then they can tell where you were when you threw it, but not where you are now.