A question has troubled me for ages and I was hoping some one can provide an answer for I am sure it is a really easy question.
"Assuming the planet is not rotating"
When you look into the night sky and you look at a star that is travelling across you field of view and not away from you or coming closer to you, are you actually seeing the position of the star or an older position due to the speed of light being so slow.

If the later does than mean that the light we are seeing is in some way curved to it's source?

I'm sure this question has been asked here before and if so can any one point me in the right direction to finding an answer?

If the later does than mean that the light we are seeing is in some way curved to it's source?

Why would it have to be curved?

well I guess because if looking at the star we are seeing it in our past by say 1000000 light years and tha star has since moved across our filed of view at what point does the light detatch itself from the source.
I see a paradox but as I said maybe there is an easy answer.

It is better to think of it as light bubbles since it travels in all directions from a star. The photons detatch themselves the moment they detatch (simply!). think of the bubble expanding through space (and time) but think of the star moving as well. It will leave a (cone?) of expanding light in its wake.

Yes: the photons don't remain bound to the source star somehow, like a harpoon launched on a line from a moving ship. Nor are they like bullets fired from a speeding train, since the velocity of the source is not added to the emitted light.

However, the path of light CAN be curved if it passes close to a massive object, since gravity bends the space which the light passes through.

thanks guys fro your help, yes I was thinking harpoon and string type logic....my mistake.....thanks