[traderrob6]

But that 6500 light years from earth. Would not a telescope span both space and, then hence, time?

[aruanan]

But that 6500 light years from earth. Would not a telescope span both space and, then hence, time?

A telescope doesn't span anything. You may as well talk about your eyes spanning both time and space. A telescope doesn't do anything that your eyes don't already do, in principle--it is just able to capture a lot more light over a longer period of time with greater resolution and, depending on the scope and its instrumentation, in wavelengths shorter or longer than your eyes are able to deal with. You're seeing, in this case, fresh starlight from 6500 years ago. Think of it as a letter than is usually delivered in three days but, instead, getting delivered 60 years later. You read that someone is planning a ski outing to which you are invited but by the time you receive the letter, the outing is long over and everyone is too old or too dead to ski. It's the letter that is spanning time and space, not your opening and reading it.

[SgtHooper]

Nope. The light still has to travel all the way to the mirrors and imagers of the telescope. Just as light has to hit the rods and cones in the back of your eyes to be “seen”. It has to make the trip.

[SunkenCiv]

The light the telescope sees left (in this case) 6,500 years ago. Magnifying the image doesn’t push the image back (actually forward) in time.