So many stars in the sky, why is it not completely illuminated all the time with so much light all around?

Answer 1

Ah, it is completely illuminated all the time.

You can see at night, can you not ?

Unless its very cloudy and overcast.

Just like a flash light shined from 20 feet away, isn't as bright as one shined from 5 feet away.

Same with stars.

Our star is 80 million miles away.

The closest other star is trillions of miles away, so the light just isn't as bright.

Answer 2

It is because of the inverse square law. It says that the brightness of a lightsource decreases inversely with the square of the distance between the source and the observer. So if we were to move to a point that is twice as far from the sun as earth is, the sun would appear to have 1/4 the brightness. So it doesn´t matter how many stars there are shining on us at the same time. The distances to them is so great that a star like the sun would hardly be visible if it were only 100 lightyears away. And incidentally the vast majority of the stars in the universe are stars that are smaller and less bright than the sun. And the sun is also known as a subdwarf star. Meaning as stars go it isn´t really very big or bright. We are just very close to it.

Answer 3

The idea that dust was blocking the light was one of the earliest suggestions to resolve Olbers' paradox. It doesn't work because the dust would get hot and radiate light just like a star. The real answer is that light from the more distant stars hasn't reached us yet.

Answer 4

There are still arguments on this today. If the universe truely was an infinite amount of time and space, wouldn't stars be infinite, causing light to shine down on earth 100 % of the the time? Or would they be invisible within the enormous 'void' of space. Which theory do you agree with? No matter how you look at it, astronomy is an infinite subject.

Answer 5

A star is actually a self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass of gas that is held together by its own gravity. The glowing light typically seen from Earth is caused by actual nuclear reactions occurring within the stars core. These nuclear reactions are balanced by the outflow of energy to the surface of the star, which produces the glow we so commonly associate with stars here on Earth. Sky conditions affect star visibility, such as light pollution, moisture in the air, or atmospheric turbulence can make stars appear dimmer.

Answer 6

Your question is called the Olmert paradox. The answer is that the sky is not always illuminated because the speed of light is not infinite.

Answer 7

1) Distance-- too far away therefore, some of the light energy is reduced
2) Unequal distance of stars ---light reaching earth at different times (Olmert paradox!)
3) Stars most prob do not exists after u have seen them in the sky ie by the time light reaches your eye, they are gone

Answer 8

This exact question is called Olbers' Paradox. The Wikipedia page gives a good explanation. Olbers considered that none of the explanations given by your previous answerers were correct.

Answer 9

Good Question!!,
now i can't be sure , so maybe give ya some food for thought.
stars are the things in the sky , that happened long ago (and still happening..).... ya know, like rocks & gasses coliding , explosen' and take into count the distants?????? lol that sounded intellectual......sorry....NOW, if you can get out to the desert.... Like Joshua Tree..the stars ARE very illuminated.

Answer 10

Don't forget that that there is plenty of "dust" and gas between us and many of the stars out there so that much light is blocked.