[beebuster2000]

a mere 170,000 light years away

another words, the light we see was emitted pre pretty much everything we now regard as human civilization existed. wild

[Nabber]

It would be helpful to know approximately how far apart these stars are. The closest star to our Sun is about 4 light-years.

[SunkenCiv]

The Sumerians had cuneiform writing 5000 years ago — about 3% of the way back to 170,000. ;’)