But... how can we KNOW what is out there NOW?

I don't think M-31 ripping apart X-1 years ago would do anything
except provide a beautiful display for us in the night sky...after all,
its still X light-years distant from us. Where X = about 3 million ly.
(So wouldn't it be a 'pleasant' surprise? ) Probably not a good idea to
any inhabitants of M-31 though! Although there demise would have been
about 3 million years ago.

No, according to confirmed, and re-confirmed, laws of physics,
nothing can travel faster than light, no matter how slow it seems to
you. (However, what's your hurry? Time slows to zero the closer you
get to light speed, so......).

"The speed of Light"...not just a good idea, ITS THE LAW!"
Clear skies,
Tom W.




Scribe2b wrote:

Similarly, time is also relative. We think of "now" having meaning, but

it's really just an illusion. All human beings are relatively close to
one another and moving at about the same speed. So we can cheat and
define a common "now."


still, i ask, if light travels X number of years from Andromeda to reach us,
and if Andromeda ripped itself apart X-1 years ago in our time, then next year
we would be in for a very unplesant surtprise.

is there no way to detect such events other than waiting upon the speed of
light?

jc