<p>Light can be made to do this around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole" rel="nofollow">black holes</a>, sort of. At a certain distance from a black hole you have what's called a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon_sphere" rel="nofollow">photon sphere</a>. At this distance, determined by the mass of the black hole, photons travel in orbits because of the space-time curvature.</p>

<p>So to answer your question, <strong>maybe</strong>. </p>

<p>Firstly, a massive entity would need to be located at some point in space in order to influence the photons into an orbit - okay yes, possible. Secondly, this massive object would need to have a mechanism of instantaneously disappearing from space-time in order for the photos to tangentially come out of orbit and back towards earth.</p>

<p>I read on a previous question on Physics.SE that there is no such solution to the Einstein Field Equations which allows for a massive object to just disappear - the closest thing would be for the density distribution of the object to change but I can't say if that would yield the result you are asking about.</p>

<p>Rob Jeffries mentioned that images do exist which suggest that photons experience such a change in trajectory - this could happen on paths which are very close to a photon sphere-like one, but deviate enough from it to allow photos to escape.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-09T17:36:30.603Z
I am not sure this is correct at all and have seen a number of images suggesting that photons can follow trajectories that come close to a black hole and end up on a trajectory back towards the object that emitted them. A vanishingly small fraction of photons may be following these paths, but that is a different answer to **no**. Perhaps you could provide some proof or references.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-12T10:34:51.243Z
No references to add to this, unfortunately. Answer edited to reflect this.
Phizzy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-09T13:05:24.527Z
2015-10-12T10:53:12.350Z
2015-10-12T10:53:12.350Z
Phizzy
<p>I know massive objects can curve light, can we capture the image of past Earth by lights from Earth that curved by massive objects?</p>

<black-hole>
Can we see the past image of Earth because of curving light by massive objects?
Gstestso
# Can we see the past image of Earth because of curving light by massive objects?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-09)

I know massive objects can curve light, can we capture the image of past Earth by lights from Earth that curved by massive objects?

**Tags:** black-hole


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-10-09. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Light can be made to do this around [black holes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole), sort of. At a certain distance from a black hole you have what's called a [photon sphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon_sphere). At this distance, determined by the mass of the black hole, photons travel in orbits because of the space-time curvature.

So to answer your question, **maybe**.

Firstly, a massive entity would need to be located at some point in space in order to influence the photons into an orbit - okay yes, possible. Secondly, this massive object would need to have a mechanism of instantaneously disappearing from space-time in order for the photos to tangentially come out of orbit and back towards earth.

I read on a previous question on Physics.SE that there is no such solution to the Einstein Field Equations which allows for a massive object to just disappear - the closest thing would be for the density distribution of the object to change but I can't say if that would yield the result you are asking about.

Rob Jeffries mentioned that images do exist which suggest that photons experience such a change in trajectory - this could happen on paths which are very close to a photon sphere-like one, but deviate enough from it to allow photos to escape.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I am not sure this is correct at all and have seen a number of images suggesting that photons can follow trajectories that come close to a black hole and end up on a trajectory back towards the object that emitted them. A vanishingly small fraction of photons may be following these paths, but that is a different answer to **no**. Perhaps you could provide some proof or references.  
> **username_1**: No references to add to this, unfortunately. Answer edited to reflect this.  

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