Yes, you're absolutely right! When we observe distant stars in the night sky, we are essentially looking into the past. This is because light from those stars takes time to travel through space and reach our eyes or telescopes. The speed of light is incredibly fast, but space is vast, and even light takes time to traverse these vast distances.
The stars we see in the night sky are typically at varying distances from us. Some stars are relatively close, within a few light-years, while others are hundreds, thousands, or even millions of light-years away. This means that the light we observe from these distant stars was emitted from them long ago, often many years or even millions of years in the past.
Given the vastness of the universe, it is entirely possible that some of the stars we see no longer exist. In the time it takes for their light to reach us, they might have undergone changes or even experienced catastrophic events, such as exploding in a supernova or collapsing into a black hole. However, because the light from these events has not reached us yet, we are still seeing the stars as they were when the light was emitted.
So, by observing distant stars, we are effectively looking back in time and gaining insights into the universe's history. The study of distant objects and their light provides valuable information about stellar evolution, the formation of galaxies, and even the early stages of the universe itself.