Live data from Hacker News

Olbers' Paradox

en.wikipedia.org

1–10 of 86 posts

Re: Olbers' Paradox

#3
As I understand it, in the galactic core where stars are more densely packed, it would be bright all the time. I wonder if there's a photorealistic render of this.

Re: Olbers' Paradox

#4
post #3

As I understand it, in the galactic core where stars are more densely packed, it would be bright all the time. I wonder if there's a photorealistic render of this.

the game Elite Dangerous simulates it. not sure how realistic but it is fun to explore

Re: Olbers' Paradox

#6

That "#:~:text=" highlighter is so annoying it has made me switch from Google Chrome to Firefox.

I don’t have Chrome, could you elaborate? Where is the highlighter and what does it do?

Re: Olbers' Paradox

#7
“[Edward Robert] Harrison argues that the first to set out a satisfactory resolution of the paradox was Lord Kelvin, in a little known 1901 paper, and that Edgar Allan Poe's essay Eureka (1848) curiously anticipated some qualitative aspects of Kelvin's argument:

Were the succession of stars endless, then the background of the sky would present us a uniform luminosity, like that displayed by the Galaxy – since there could be absolutely no point, in all that background, at which would not exist a star. The only mode, therefore, in which, under such a state of affairs, we could comprehend the voids which our telescopes find in innumerable directions, would be by supposing the distance of the invisible background so immense that no ray from it has yet been able to reach us at all.”

Re: Olbers' Paradox

#8
post #6

That "#:~:text=" highlighter is so annoying it has made me switch from Google Chrome to Firefox.

I don’t have Chrome, could you elaborate? Where is the highlighter and what does it do?

The link points to "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers%27_paradox#:~:text=In%2...."

In case that renders as a link by Hacker News, I've added a space here and removed the https part:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers%27_paradox #:~:text=In%20astrophysics%20and%20physical%20cosmology,infinite%20and%20eternal%20static%20universe.

What it does is that it highlights that text in the page, with a yellow background color. Making the rest of the text difficult to read (your eyes are drawn to the very yellow highlighted part).

Re: Olbers' Paradox

#9
The Hubble was pointed at what appeared to be a black void of space, and revealed lush fields of stars and galaxies.

So at one degree of perception, we have an empty void, and at another, a bright flush of light and activity.

Re: Olbers' Paradox

#10
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t have Chrome, could you elaborate? Where is the highlighter and what does it do?

The link points to " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers%27_paradox#:~:text=In%2... ." In case that renders as a link by Hacker News, I've added a space here and removed the https part: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers%27_paradox #:~:text=In%20astrophysics%20and%20physical%20cosmology,infinite%20and%20eternal%20static%20universe. What it does is that it highlights that text in the page, with a yellow background color. M…

Agreed (I use Firefox), but (from being forced to use Chrome) you should be able to get the highlight to go away by clicking somewhere else on the page or by scrolling.
Post reply on HN