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olbers paradox

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Olbers' paradox

[ohl-berz]
–noun Astronomy.
the paradox that if the universe consisted of an infinite number of stars equally distributed through space, then every line of sight would come from a star and the night sky would glow uniformly, which is observationally not true.

Origin:
1950–55; after H.W.M. Olbers
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

Olbers'' paradox 
"if stars are uniformly distributed through the sky, their number should counterbalance their faintness and the night sky should be as bright as the day;" named for Ger. astronomer H.W.M. Olbers (1758-1840), who propounded it in 1826.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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