The light spreads out though, following an inverse-square law.
Yes- this was another aspect of misconceptualisation I was grappling with in the context of the apparent point-sources of light that are stars (cf suns).
I'd declared my puzzlement earlier on the forum as to how/why it is that despite the multi-axial rotations and precessions affecting our Earth and the entire solar system within the universe (and the respective gyrations of remote astronomical entities) we can actually manage observe anything at all?
I reconcile this inside my conception-set as being an almost-infinitely complex combination of vast scales, enormous energies, and relativity (well, my relative inability to comprehend cosmology).
But it doesn't sit properly in my head.
Perhaps one day I will understand this all (eg how precisely the same inverse-square law dissipation effect that you make utterly-appropriate mention of here still permits the bidirectional RF datacoms interconnectivity between Voyager 1 and Earth).
At a distance of 21billion kilometres and counting, reportedly we will lose contact with it in 2027: apparently not because of inverse-square dissipation (a cited 20W signal back from Voyager, and a 20kW signal from the Earth's DSN)....but because the nuclear TPG electrical power-source on the Voyager probe can only run for 50yrs.
I can attempt to crunch numbers on this myself, but I find it utterly mind-boggling that a 150 bits-per-second bidirectional datarate can be sustained over a distance of more than 20 light-hours away, which increases at a rate of 61,000km/hr
The Earth-arriving signal power-level is quoted in the video as being just 0.000000000000000000722W (whether this is an actual W/m^2 spherical trigged value for field power at the Earth's surface or something else, I don't know).
But all these challenges would apply too, in respect of visible light spectrum resolution (ie a time-machine viewer).
So with distances / powers / perturbations / intervisibility paths...I have a comprehension gap of huge proportions in myself. I would love to have this properly explained to me. Because I can do that. Stand for 24hrs+, understanding small parts of complex things, and then comprehend puzzles and mysteries.
But this is really beyond me- and I don't want it to be.
