Olbers Paradox: Infinite Stars, Dark Sky, But Why?
Olbers’ Paradox: Infinite Stars, Dark Sky, But Why?
Olbers’ Paradox
Olbers’ Paradox has been around since the 1500’s but is named after Heinrich Olbers from 1826. The paradox is that the whole night sky should shine as brightly as a star but the sky is mostly dark. The foundation for this paradox rests on the assumption that the universe is unchanging with infinite proportions, meaning it is infinitely old with an infinite number of stars, whose light shines infinitely. We now know these things to be untrue, but they made plenty of sense to astronomers who did not understand lifetimes of stars, motions in space or the limits of the observable universe.
Stars should fill our line of sight, but they don’t.
Some Explanations Over the Years 1. …show more content…
This could explain the vast darkness with small bits of starlight. 3. Q. Shouldn’t the sky be as bright as a star all the time if the universe has an infinite number of stars? A.If the universe was filled with stars they would magnify each other’s heat and destroy the Earth 4. Q. Why doesn’t the heat from all of these stars magnify and destroy us? A. Maybe the interstellar medium somehow absorbs all the light and radiation from the stars
The True Solution to Olber’s Paradox: The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory tells us that the universe has an age limit, a specific composition and density, and that it is expanding, therefore we conclude that:
-Since the universe isn’t infinitely old, the light that has had time to reach us can only be as old as the universe or about 14 billion years old. This is the observable portion of our universe.
- Space-time is expanding and according to Hubble’s law which states that velocity of a galaxy is equal to distance times the Hubble constant v=H0xd, galaxies that are far enough away from us are getting further away at an accelerated rate as the universe expands at speeds that sometimes exceed the speed of light. Thus, light from stars accelerating at these speeds is redshifted to invisibility and there are vast expanses of space between stars and
Olbers’ Paradox
Olbers’ Paradox has been around since the 1500’s but is named after Heinrich Olbers from 1826. The paradox is that the whole night sky should shine as brightly as a star but the sky is mostly dark. The foundation for this paradox rests on the assumption that the universe is unchanging with infinite proportions, meaning it is infinitely old with an infinite number of stars, whose light shines infinitely. We now know these things to be untrue, but they made plenty of sense to astronomers who did not understand lifetimes of stars, motions in space or the limits of the observable universe.
Stars should fill our line of sight, but they don’t.
Some Explanations Over the Years 1. …show more content…
This could explain the vast darkness with small bits of starlight. 3. Q. Shouldn’t the sky be as bright as a star all the time if the universe has an infinite number of stars? A.If the universe was filled with stars they would magnify each other’s heat and destroy the Earth 4. Q. Why doesn’t the heat from all of these stars magnify and destroy us? A. Maybe the interstellar medium somehow absorbs all the light and radiation from the stars
The True Solution to Olber’s Paradox: The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory tells us that the universe has an age limit, a specific composition and density, and that it is expanding, therefore we conclude that:
-Since the universe isn’t infinitely old, the light that has had time to reach us can only be as old as the universe or about 14 billion years old. This is the observable portion of our universe.
- Space-time is expanding and according to Hubble’s law which states that velocity of a galaxy is equal to distance times the Hubble constant v=H0xd, galaxies that are far enough away from us are getting further away at an accelerated rate as the universe expands at speeds that sometimes exceed the speed of light. Thus, light from stars accelerating at these speeds is redshifted to invisibility and there are vast expanses of space between stars and