Caveat, I'm by no means an expert. A photon travelling between Alpha Centauri and Earth does not experience time it effectively arrives instantly. We as obser

Caveat, I'm by no means an expert. A photon travelling between Alpha Centauri and Earth does not experience time it effectively arrives instantly. We as observers however will see that it took 4 years to make its journey. The idea of whether it's recent or not is irrelevant, it is all relative (to the photon it's recent, to us the light is 4 years old).