Here’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while. Suppose we positioned a camera with a very (!) large telescoping lens a few lightdays away from Earth, aimed at us, and had some way of communicating with it in faster-than-light terms. (Big suppositions, I know.) Could we take pictures of events that happened in our past? As a crazy example, say a U.S. spy plane collides with a Chinese fighter plane, and both sides argue over who hit whom. Could we tell the camera, “Hey, take pictures of that area when the collision happens and send them back to us?” Or taking the question further, suppose we could SEND the camera out faster than light. Could we sent it lightyears away and say, “Hey, take pictures of O.J. Simpson’s estate circa 1994” or “Let’s see a few glossy 8x10’s of Jesus Christ (or at least the top of his head)”? I realise it would take an inconceivably large telescope and violate the current laws of physics… but assuming these obstacles could be overcome, would all else fall into place?
Curious,
Randolph