![]() ![]() But skilled readers know how to read far more than just words. They’re able to read and absorb the New York Times, including the front page, the arts section, the sports section, the business section, the Tuesday science section, and the editorials they can read not just Time magazine but Scientific American, the New York Review of Books, Better Homes and Gardens, The National Enquirer, and the Reader’s Digest, they can enjoy reading popular fiction ranging from the latest bestseller or detective novel or comic book to a work of classic literature and they’re engaged by works of nonfiction ranging from biographies to debates about current public policy to the latest discoveries of science. An educated person is literate across a wide range of genres and media. This too is utterly simple to say, but very difficult to achieve, since there are so many many ways of reading in this world. They can follow an argument, track logical reasoning, detect illogic, hear the emotions that lie behind both the logic and the illogic, and ultimately empathize with the person who is feeling those emotions. They work hard to hear what other people are saying. This is so simple that perhaps it doesn’t seem worth saying, but in our distracted and overbusy age I think it’s worth declaring that an educated person knows how to pay attention–to people and to the world around them. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.Former Director, L&S Honors Program (1996-1998) This questionoriginally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. ![]() ![]() No, they could not see actual dinosaurs unless they have technology that is utterly beyond human comprehension. rex getting mowed down by an asteroid.īottom line: Yes, astronomers in another galaxy could see our region of space as it was at the time or the dinosaurs. By the time you get that far away, there are almost no photons (particles of light) left to collect, which means there is no obvious physical way for any aliens in NGC 4845 to reconstruct pretty pictures of old T. Dinosaurs are much much smaller than a whole planet, and NGC 4845 is millions of times farther away.Įven the wildest theoretical technologies that anybody has ever imagined (such as using the Sun as a magnifying gravitational lens) would not be nearly powerful enough to see dinosaurs on Earth from such a great distance. Seeing the Milky Way as it was at the time of the dinosaurs is not the same as actually being able to see individual dinosaurs! Using current technology, astronomers cannot resolve any details on even the biggest planets orbiting the nearest stars. In principle, they could see our planet as it was at that time, too.īut, one huge caveat. The finite speed of light has the exact same effect in the other direction: If there are intelligent aliens in this galaxy, when they look at the Milky Way, they are seeing our galaxy as it was at the time of the dinosaurs. Which brings me to galaxy NGC 4845. It is located 65 million light years away, meaning that we are seeing it as it was 65 million years ago, right around the time the T. We are therefore seeing the Andromeda Galaxy as it was at a time long before modern humans existed! The closest human relatives alive at the time were members of the genus Australopithecus. The light from it that we see right now is 2.5 million years old. The Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object readily visible to the naked eye. When you look at Dubhe, the front star in the “bowl” of the Dipper, you are seeing light from before you were born. The stars of the Big Dipper range from 60 to 125 light years away. Put another way: When you look at Sirius tonight, you see it as it was 8.6 years ago.Īs you look at more distant objects, the effect becomes bigger and bigger. That means the light hitting your eye tonight has been traveling for 8.6 years. The bright star Sirius is 8.6 light years away. Because of the finite speed of light, when you gaze up into the night sky, you are looking into the past. This question raises the fascinating issue of look-back times. ![]()
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