[Space Intro]
[Verse 1]
Watch the future flee
At light speed
Watch the past come
Light speed, undone
[Chorus]
A glimpse of the past
Moving, passed fast
Maybe a hundred years ago
Or, so…
[Bridge]
Maybe billion or more
So you know
What’s to come before
See the light might
Show us what’s in store
[Instrumental]
[Verse 2]
The past coming at you again
At light speed
Tomorrow, back to begin
Light speed freed
[Chorus]
A glimpse of the past
Moving, passed fast
Maybe a hundred years ago
Or, so…
[Bridge]
Maybe billion or more
So you know
What’s to come before
See the light might
Show us what’s in store
[Instrumental]
[Verse 3]
At last, relive the past
Bleed at light speed
Tomorrow is here to last
Light speed freed
[Chorus]
A glimpse of the past
Moving, passed fast
Maybe a hundred years ago
Or, so…
[Bridge]
Maybe billion or more
So you know
What’s to come before
See the light might
Show us what’s in store
[Outro]
Watch the future flee
At light speed
Watch the past come
Light speed, undone
[End]
[Silence]
Light years allow us to see the past because light travels at a finite speed, approximately 299,792 kilometers per second (186,282 miles per second) in a vacuum. When we observe objects in space, we are actually seeing the light that they emitted in the past. Since light takes time to travel from distant objects to our eyes or telescopes, the farther away an object is, the longer it takes for its light to reach us.
For example, if a star is located 100 light years away from Earth, the light we see from that star today actually left the star 100 years ago. Similarly, if we observe a galaxy that is millions or even billions of light years away, we are seeing the light that was emitted by the galaxy millions or billions of years ago. In essence, by looking at objects in space, we are looking back in time and gaining insights into the universe’s history.