Technically EVERY blast we see is from the past. Since light takes time to reach our eyes after it reflects off an object, everything you see nearby is microseconds in the past. The moon seen from Earth is about 2 seconds in history and tiny Mars viewed through a backyard telescope is 20-40 minutes in the past. The sun in the sky could have exploded 8 minutes ago and you would not know it for another 20-25 seconds.
Add the reaction time for the eyes to send visual information to the brain and the recognition time for the brain to react and recognize what it saw (up to 150 milliseconds) and we can and will NEVER see anything in real time. Nothing is instant, including instant coffee and instant potatoes. ;-)
Technically EVERY blast we see is from the past. Since light takes time to reach our eyes after it reflects off an object, everything you see nearby is microseconds in the past. The moon seen from Earth is about 2 seconds in history and tiny Mars viewed through a backyard telescope is 20-40 minutes in the past. The sun in the sky could have exploded 8 minutes ago and you would not know it for another 20-25 seconds.
Add the reaction time for the eyes to send visual information to the brain and the recognition time for the brain to react and recognize what it saw (up to 150 milliseconds) and we can and will NEVER see anything in real time. Nothing is instant, including instant coffee and instant potatoes. ;-)