How does the darkness of the night sky tell you something important about the universe?

Answer 1

It's a clue that the universe cannot be infinite and static. If that were the case, then no matter what direction you looked, you'd eventually see a star. The night sky would be very bright.

But the sky is dark, which is consistent with the idea that the universe has a finite age, and hence a finite observable radius.

Answer 2

What you're asking about is known as 'Olbers Paradox.'

Some cosmologists use the argument that since the night sky isn't a solid mass of light from stars and galaxies, then the universe can't be infinite.

That's just one side of the coin though because stars and galaxies are not infinitely long-lived. Eventually they will dim and burn out. The sum of these effects is that AT NO TIME ARE ALL OF THE CONDITIONS FOR CREATING A BRIGHT SKY FILLED. We can never see light from stars or galaxies at all distances at once; either the light from the most distant objects hasn't reached us yet, or if it has, then so much time would have had to pass that nearby objects would be burned out and dark.

Answer 3

it tells us somthing because of a theory, not sure what is caled, but it states that the universe has a limit, is not infinate. This is because if the universe was infinate, then every point you could possibley look in the night sky at would have a star there. confused? an example is, lets say a forest. with a never ending forest, you would only see trees, trees, and more trees, and not whats on the other side. a forest that ends, however, you might see a feild or house through the trees. It's a little different with stars, of course, but you should get the idea.

Answer 4

The night sky is dark because the universe has a beginning. (How universe began the world of science doesn't know. I believe God called into being but please search that out as true scientists. ) Olbers's paradox says that if the universe is infinite in size, infinite in age and static the night sky should be filled with stars. But the universe maybe infinite in size, but it is neither infinitely old nor static.

Answer 5

What appears dark to human eyes may not appear to other types of eyes which may respond to infrared frequencies or other frequencies.
The Night sky appears dark to us because light radiation is invisible to us unless it collides with our eye mechanisms.
That does not mean that the Universe is devoid of radiation micromasses traveling thru out the volume of the Universe.
A vaccuum implies absence of air only. However most stars are composed of gases and Jupiter is solid hydrogen. So how can we deduce that the Universe is devoid of gasses .

Between stars and galaxies there does not exist emptiness which we see as dark; but there must be a substance that holds all the galaxies of the Universe together.
So what appears dark and empty is only relative to the Observer.
As the stars and Galaxies radiate mass ;these masses fill the whole volume of the Universe as they dissipate and obey the 2nd Law of thermodynamics.

Answer 6

Olber's paradox doesn't prove anything. There are many arguments that explain how an infinite universe can appear dark. BigBang boosters simply don't want to hear those arguments.

My own Fractal Foam Model of Universes just happens to suggest a new argument. There is an energy equivalent of space; so the expansion of the universe is an infinite heat sink.

Answer 7

It tells you there are not an infinite number of stars. If there were, every part of the night sky would have a star anywhere you looked and it would be as bright as the sun's surface.

Answer 8

It tells us that the universe is a finite entity.
It may seem redundant but an infinite universe would pepper us with an infinite number of photons continually and the surrounding space would be forever daylight.

Answer 9

It tells you that the sun has set, and maybe it tells you that there's not a whole lot of stuff reflecting enough of that light back to earth to be visible.

That infinite stuff is silly. What about cosmic dust? It's mighty hard to see that if there's not a star behind it - even if the universe *were* static.

Jim

Answer 10

You're doing homework questions, aren't you. Why can't you research this stuff from Wikipedia? Why do you insist on being an intellectual parasite?