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Olbers’ paradox
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Olbers’ paradox

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Key People:
Wilhelm Olbers
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universe
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Olbers’ paradox, in cosmology, paradox relating to the problem of why the sky is dark at night. If the universe is endless and uniformly populated with luminous stars, then every line of sight must eventually terminate at the surface of a star. Hence, contrary to observation, this argument implies that the night sky should everywhere be bright, with no dark spaces between the stars. This paradox was discussed in 1823 by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers, and its discovery is widely attributed to him. The problem was considered by earlier investigators and can be traced back to Johannes Kepler, ...(100 of 190 words)

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