CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks weekly science show of June 6, 2015 featured  their annual “Quirks Question Road Show” hosted by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo.

[listen to the show on CBC radio]

Western astronomer Stanimir Metchev was asked an audience question as to whether hypothetical astronomers on a planet 1000 light years away from Earth would be able to see Earth. The answer was that with present day technology, Earth astronomers could directly image a planet only if it was closer than about 5 light years from Earth. Thus, in order to see us at 1000 light years distance, these fellow Milky Way astronomers would need technology that is more advanced than what is available to us today on Earth.