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Mystery #4Tier 2-3stars / light / space

Why is looking at the stars like looking back in time?

Here's a strange thought: some of the stars you see twinkling tonight might not even exist any more. You could be staring at a star that flickered out long before you were born, and yet there it is, shining away. How can you possibly see something that may already be gone?

The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, thousands of distant galaxies whose light comes from the deep past.
Photo: NASA and the European Space Agency · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Your guess

What's your hunch about how starlight can show us the past?

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