Quasar Question - I'm stumped!

wenwen

This is going to sound like a weird question, but I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this.

If you are looking at the night sky, essentially you are looking into the past right? If a Quasar is one of the most distant objects, then doesn't that mean that it is also one of the youngest? If you were to see the light of a quasar from an earthbound telescope (however unlikely that may be) wouldn't you be looking billions of years into the past?

Sidebar sorta - I've heard that some physicists have found that it is theoretically possible to travel through time, but only into the past and not into the future. How come?

I'm really confused about the concepts of time within the universe.
If you know how to help explain this in a laymen kind of way I would love to hear it!

Lydia

Yes, you are looking back in time when looking at Quasars and even looking at our sun since it takes over 8 minutes for the Sun's light to reach Earth.
Looking into the future and travel into the future has always been a subject for science fiction, since there are so many variables to what the future may hold for each one of us. We all have the free will to make our future. The future is not " cut in stone". When I finish websurfing, I have the ability to chose what I am going to do next: get in my car and drive somewhere? So many places to go. And I can interact in a positive or negative manner with whomeever I meet on the way and when I get to whichever destination I chose. Just this one action determines what I will do next and what my " immediate" future would be. And then there is the free will of each of the persons whom I encounter along the way.
My day would be different if I decide not to go anywhere and sit here all day web surfing. Or if I stayed at home and decided to talk on the telephone all day. Then I would interact with and alter the future of those I contact, and what I decide to say to them, and they to me.
Or, do I take my meals at home, by myself? I open the fridge and see so many things I could prepare. What if one of these items had gone bad? Would I get ill? Then the hospital care workers would have their future altered by one more patient. Would my children come to see me or stay home? Their future plans would then be changed as well as they interface with whomever on the way.
.. So many variables in such a small amount of time....
How could we " travel " into a " sea of variables"?

LL

Quasar Question - I'm stumped!

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