|Sep 7, 2020,02:00am EDT
Are Any Stars Visible In The Night Sky Already Dead?
Starts With A Bang
Ethan SiegelSenior Contributor
The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.
This is the Milky Way from Concordia Camp, in Pakistan's Karakoram Range. It's commonly reported that many of the stars we see in the sky have already burned out and we just don't know it yet, but that may be more of a myth than reflective of our astronomical reality.
When we look out across the Universe, we’re also peering back in time.
In the early 21st-century, we've successfully mapped out practically all the stars in our neighborhood in three-dimensional space. The closest stars to us don't always align with the stars we can see, as what's visible is determined by a combination of distance and intrinsic brightness.
Light only travels at a finite speed across the vastness of space.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/09/07/are-any-stars-visible-in-the-night-sky-already-dead/#63b21e237809
