Because you might have seen it in a telescope years ago idk
Another Answer
A light year is a measure of distance. If an object is 15 million light years away, the light you are looking at in this moment was produced 15 million years ago. If a star that far away went supernova at this moment, we wouldn't know it for another 15 million years.
The light we see on the surface of our planet from the Sun is a little over 8 minutes old, because it took that light about 8 minutes to travel from the Sun to Earth.
There could be anything
The nearest galaxy to us is the Andromeda Galaxy, about 2.5 Million light years from us. It can be just about seen with the naked eye, as a small cloudy looking object in the Andromeda constellation.
A Million Light Years Away was created in 2002.
885 million miles = 0.000150548614 light years.
40 million kilometers = 4.22809364 × 10-6 light years.
2.5 million years
The nearest galaxy to us is the Andromeda Galaxy, about 2.5 Million light years from us. It can be just about seen with the naked eye, as a small cloudy looking object in the Andromeda constellation.
Million Light Years Away was created in 1998.
A Million Light Years Away was created in 2002.
885 million miles = 0.000150548614 light years.
107 million kilometers = 1.13101505 × 10-5 light years.
The Andromeda galaxy is about 2.4 million light years away, meaning that light from it takes 2.4 million light years to reach us, so the light we see from it now was emitted 2.4 million years ago.
At the speed of light 1.5 million years
Milky Way Galaxy - Our GalaxyOmega Centauri - former galaxy - 0.0183 million light years awayCanis Major Dwarf - 0.025 million light years awayVirgo Stellar Stream - 0.03 million light years awaySagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy - 0.81 million light years awayLarge Magellanic Cloud - 0.163 million light years awayAndromeda Galaxy - Largest - 2.5 million miles away.
Milky Way Galaxy - Our GalaxyOmega Centauri - former galaxy - 0.0183 million light years awayCanis Major Dwarf - 0.025 million light years awayVirgo Stellar Stream - 0.03 million light years awaySagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy - 0.81 million light years awayLarge Magellanic Cloud - 0.163 million light years awayAndromeda Galaxy - Largest - 2.5 million miles away.
40 million kilometers = 4.22809364 × 10-6 light years.
2.5 million years
Contrary to popular belief, the largest object in space today is not a planet. It is a a giant quasar which is the size of over 700 million light years wide.