Assume we had a super powerful telescope that can zoom in on a planet 4 light years away, are we still looking at it in the past?

The way we measure distance in space is light years. How long light travels in a year. So telescopes are basically looking at the stars depending on the distance, as they once were. So if a planet is 4 light years away from earth, and we develop a telescope so powerful, we can zoom in on a supposed human colony, are we still looking at what they were doing 4 years ago or would it be the present/same time for both the observer and the people being observed?

It would still be 4 years in the past, as the light of the planet still has to travel to the telescope…
The zoom only affects how big of an angle the telescope catches.

Oh and just btw I think this might be the wrong place for those kind of questions :smiley: