system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is it the case that the photon hitting my eye when I look at a star in the night sky originated in a star hundreds or thousands of lightyears away?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but this is truly bending my melon. I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that something traveled that far across the galaxy and ended up in my eye.
gpt
Yes, as to see the star the photon must have been either emitted by the object (either by absorption/remitting or through a process that releases energy like nuclear fusion). The photon hitting your eye is the same photon (being emitted/remitted a couple of times along the way) that came from the object hundreds or thousands of light years away.