<p>The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 meters per second, not infinite. Let's say, for example, particle of a beam of light, the photon, is emitted. It takes ~8 minutes to get to us; when it hits our eyes, we see it. This means that we see a photon that was emitted from the sun 8 minutes ago. We aren't, per se, looking "back in time", but we're looking at a photon that is ~8 minutes old. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-24T00:33:39.723Z
2015-03-24T00:33:39.723Z
Damon Blevins
<p>Answer is <strong>Yes</strong>. Not only to sun and moon, we are seeing each and every distant object we are ever experiencing with certain delay. For example, if you are reading this text on a computer screen at 50 centimetres distant from your eyes, you are actually experiencing the past version of <code>1.66777852e-9</code> <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01ZqsGKNWEEzI-fA7t4dzsqtdRBqg%3A1588034587721&amp;ei=G3ynXoXRK7ea4-EPubqx6A0&amp;q=50%20%2F2.998e%2B10&amp;oq=50%20%2F2.998e%2B10&amp;gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQR1AAWABgyMsRaABwAngAgAEAiAEAkgEAmAEAqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&amp;sclient=psy-ab&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjFyvfr8YnpAhU3zTgGHTldDN0Q4dUDCAw&amp;uact=5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">seconds</a>.</p>

<p>One interesting thing to know is, in reality past, present and future exist all together as spacetime in the fabric of cosmos. For example, when you say, we are seeing 10 years past version of a star which is 10 light years away from our planet, similarly an alien right now is watching 10 years past version of our earth seating on that star. </p>

<p>An excellent explanation can be found <a href="https://youtu.be/vrqmMoI0wks" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> presented by Brian Greene to understand how mind boggling reality we are living in.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-25T13:12:20.700Z
This does not prove that future is an illusion.
Anixx
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-28T22:06:51.057Z
That's a very video link.
Jim421616
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-29T05:00:21.620Z
@Jim what did you mean? Very old video link?
Sazzad Hissain Khan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-29T09:06:47.570Z
Oh sorry, typo. I meant a very cool video.
Jim421616
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-29T09:38:54.380Z
Yes. That’s actually a cut piece of original longer documentary which is about 50 minutes. Sharing for interested people  https://youtu.be/Zuedaptw73w
Sazzad Hissain Khan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-03-19T13:53:06.923Z
2020-04-29T07:08:49.600Z
2020-04-29T07:08:49.600Z
Sazzad Hissain Khan
<p>It is better to speak here of sensing light generated by, or reflected from a body that reflects light.  Seeing, as such, involves cognitive processes wherein sensed light is information. Our seeing eyes are causally affected by a total array of photons arriving at different times according to how they are distributed in the experienced world.  The sun, or a high-flying jet are identified and recognized by acquaintance which is the ground of knowledge by experience for a particular person. What we learn from experience of the sun generally is understood as having little use for the factual knowledge that the sun is 8 minutes and 20 seconds behind our observation.  But, an astronomer looking at distant objects in the night sky may need to take the delay factor into account.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-30T00:59:31.590Z
Not exactly the same thing, but helioseismologists need to worry about an even smaller effect: [Are there any ways in which the light time difference between the center and the edge of the solar disk is noticeable?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/29486/7982)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-29T16:32:43.237Z
2021-12-29T16:32:43.237Z
Michael Cassady
<p>Yes. It's 8 and a half minute old sunlight. When you look at stars you're viewing hundred. Thousands,  millions year old pics</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-06T05:50:46.197Z
2023-01-06T05:50:46.197Z
LazyReader
<p><strong>Yes</strong>, you are right. We don't only see the Sun 8 minutes in the past, we actually see the past of everything in space. We even see our closest companion, the Moon, 1 second in the past.</p>

<p>The further an object is from us the longer its light takes to reach us since the speed of light is finite and distance in space are really big.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-22T15:26:34.937Z
If we want to get even more complex, the photons from our sun that reach our eyes are actually much, much older than ~8 mins. They were created at the core of the sun something like 100,000 YEARS ago (I can't remember the exact estimate–someone pls correct me). It takes that long for the photons to travel from the immense pressure/gravity of the Sun's core and other layers before the light/photons finally escapes the Sun's corona on it's 8-minute journey to us.
iMerchant
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-19T19:16:04.703Z
@iMerchant Your latter point isn't true. The photons emitted in the core of the Sun were absorbed in the core of the Sun. The radiative energy takes a long time to diffuse outwards. The photons we see were emitted from the solar photosphere 8 minutes ago.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-19T12:27:31.763Z
@RobJeffries Good point indeed. We would not want the photons emitted in the core to hit us.
Peter - Reinstate Monica
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-19T12:35:24.557Z
I suppose one could add that most simple statements about space and time are to some degree bogus, if one fully considers general relativity. Fast moving objects -- say, neutrinos with mass -- would think that not much time passed since they left the sun. For the photons surely no time passed at all (and they didn't travel at all spatially, either). In a way one could probably say that *everything* we see at a given point in time, including GN-z11 and the microwave background, is almost contemporary -- from the view point of a very fast observer.
Peter - Reinstate Monica
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-25T23:27:52.873Z
In fact we see *everything* in the past, whether it's in space or not. If you see an object, say, 30 cm (~ 12 inches) away, you're seeing the light that left it about 1 nanosecond ago. At that scale, though, the delay in your own visual processing is *much* longer than the speed-of-light lag.
Keith Thompson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-25T07:19:22.547Z
2015-03-23T22:48:16.033Z
2015-03-23T22:48:16.033Z
Joan.bdm
<p>The Sun's rays hit our eyes around 8 minutes after they are emitted from the Sun.
Does this mean that the Sun that we see is always the Sun as it was some 8 minutes before? I strongly think this must be happening; is it really a fact? Do we always see the Sun's past?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-23T19:49:09.310Z
Light only travels about 11.8 inches per nanosecond. You have to be *very* close to an object to get real time information about it.
Wayfaring Stranger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-28T05:22:48.930Z
If you look at the person next to you, you also see an image of the past
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-05T20:50:13.013Z
@planetmaker the way the human eye works is by interpreting light and color. humans emit light, but you can't see it because your eye sucks it all up in order to "see" things. Your statement is correct.
Deko Revinio
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-09T09:10:50.507Z
For the human physiology side of things, you could argue that the brain maintains an illusion that you are living about 0.5s into the future.
tripleee
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-26T03:52:06.433Z
Down vote? I was just curious if i was thinking right. Anyway Thank you bro!
Deepeshkumar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-26T09:04:06.510Z
The speed of light is finite. How could the answer be anything but yes?
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-02-26T10:23:45.987Z
Hmm.. Well that is true but it is hard to digest that we are watching an object's past. When i had this argument with my pal and a teacher they made my fun. So i tried to verify. Now i can convince them n even have a debate. Thanks for answering!
Deepeshkumar
<the-sun><space-time><time><special-relativity>
When we see the Sun, do we actually see its past?
Deepeshkumar
# When we see the Sun, do we actually see its past?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-02-25)

The Sun's rays hit our eyes around 8 minutes after they are emitted from the Sun.
Does this mean that the Sun that we see is always the Sun as it was some 8 minutes before? I strongly think this must be happening; is it really a fact? Do we always see the Sun's past?

**Tags:** the-sun, space-time, time, special-relativity

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Down vote? I was just curious if i was thinking right. Anyway Thank you bro!  
> **username_5**: The speed of light is finite. How could the answer be anything but yes?  
> **username_0**: Hmm.. Well that is true but it is hard to digest that we are watching an object's past. When i had this argument with my pal and a teacher they made my fun. So i tried to verify. Now i can convince them n even have a debate. Thanks for answering!  
> **username_1**: Light only travels about 11.8 inches per nanosecond. You have to be *very* close to an object to get real time information about it.  
> **username_2**: If you look at the person next to you, you also see an image of the past  
> **username_3**: @username_2 the way the human eye works is by interpreting light and color. humans emit light, but you can't see it because your eye sucks it all up in order to "see" things. Your statement is correct.  
> **username_4**: For the human physiology side of things, you could argue that the brain maintains an illusion that you are living about 0.5s into the future.  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_13 on 2015-02-25. Score: 24 | Accepted answer

**Yes**, you are right. We don't only see the Sun 8 minutes in the past, we actually see the past of everything in space. We even see our closest companion, the Moon, 1 second in the past.

The further an object is from us the longer its light takes to reach us since the speed of light is finite and distance in space are really big.

> **Comments:**
> **username_16**: In fact we see *everything* in the past, whether it's in space or not. If you see an object, say, 30 cm (~ 12 inches) away, you're seeing the light that left it about 1 nanosecond ago. At that scale, though, the delay in your own visual processing is *much* longer than the speed-of-light lag.  
> **username_14**: If we want to get even more complex, the photons from our sun that reach our eyes are actually much, much older than ~8 mins. They were created at the core of the sun something like 100,000 YEARS ago (I can't remember the exact estimate–someone pls correct me). It takes that long for the photons to travel from the immense pressure/gravity of the Sun's core and other layers before the light/photons finally escapes the Sun's corona on it's 8-minute journey to us.  
> **username_5**: @username_14 Your latter point isn't true. The photons emitted in the core of the Sun were absorbed in the core of the Sun. The radiative energy takes a long time to diffuse outwards. The photons we see were emitted from the solar photosphere 8 minutes ago.  
> **username_15**: @RobJeffries Good point indeed. We would not want the photons emitted in the core to hit us.  
> **username_15**: I suppose one could add that most simple statements about space and time are to some degree bogus, if one fully considers general relativity. Fast moving objects -- say, neutrinos with mass -- would think that not much time passed since they left the sun. For the photons surely no time passed at all (and they didn't travel at all spatially, either). In a way one could probably say that *everything* we see at a given point in time, including GN-z11 and the microwave background, is almost contemporary -- from the view point of a very fast observer.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2015-03-24. Score: 3

The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 meters per second, not infinite. Let's say, for example, particle of a beam of light, the photon, is emitted. It takes ~8 minutes to get to us; when it hits our eyes, we see it. This means that we see a photon that was emitted from the sun 8 minutes ago. We aren't, per se, looking "back in time", but we're looking at a photon that is ~8 minutes old.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2017-03-19. Score: 1

Answer is **Yes**. Not only to sun and moon, we are seeing each and every distant object we are ever experiencing with certain delay. For example, if you are reading this text on a computer screen at 50 centimetres distant from your eyes, you are actually experiencing the past version of `1.66777852e-9` [seconds](https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01ZqsGKNWEEzI-fA7t4dzsqtdRBqg%3A1588034587721&ei=G3ynXoXRK7ea4-EPubqx6A0&q=50%20%2F2.998e%2B10&oq=50%20%2F2.998e%2B10&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQRzIECAAQR1AAWABgyMsRaABwAngAgAEAiAEAkgEAmAEAqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjFyvfr8YnpAhU3zTgGHTldDN0Q4dUDCAw&uact=5).

One interesting thing to know is, in reality past, present and future exist all together as spacetime in the fabric of cosmos. For example, when you say, we are seeing 10 years past version of a star which is 10 light years away from our planet, similarly an alien right now is watching 10 years past version of our earth seating on that star.

An excellent explanation can be found [here](https://youtu.be/vrqmMoI0wks) presented by Brian Greene to understand how mind boggling reality we are living in.

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: This does not prove that future is an illusion.  
> **username_9**: That's a very video link.  
> **username_7**: @Jim what did you mean? Very old video link?  
> **username_9**: Oh sorry, typo. I meant a very cool video.  
> **username_7**: Yes. That’s actually a cut piece of original longer documentary which is about 50 minutes. Sharing for interested people  https://youtu.be/Zuedaptw73w  

---

### Answer by username_10 on 2021-12-29. Score: 0

It is better to speak here of sensing light generated by, or reflected from a body that reflects light. Seeing, as such, involves cognitive processes wherein sensed light is information. Our seeing eyes are causally affected by a total array of photons arriving at different times according to how they are distributed in the experienced world. The sun, or a high-flying jet are identified and recognized by acquaintance which is the ground of knowledge by experience for a particular person. What we learn from experience of the sun generally is understood as having little use for the factual knowledge that the sun is 8 minutes and 20 seconds behind our observation. But, an astronomer looking at distant objects in the night sky may need to take the delay factor into account.

> **Comments:**
> **username_11**: Not exactly the same thing, but helioseismologists need to worry about an even smaller effect: [Are there any ways in which the light time difference between the center and the edge of the solar disk is noticeable?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/29486/7982)  

---

### Answer by username_12 on 2023-01-06. Score: -2

Yes. It's 8 and a half minute old sunlight. When you look at stars you're viewing hundred. Thousands, millions year old pics


---

