Under static, infinite conditions, how bright should the night sky appear?
Answer
Brilliantly bright, as if it were the surface of the Sun itself
The core premise of Olbers’ Paradox assumes a static, infinite universe uniformly populated with eternally existing stars. If these conditions were true, every possible line of sight extending from the observer on Earth would inevitably terminate upon the surface of a distant star. Since each star contributes light comparable to our Sun, the accumulation of light from all directions would result in the entire celestial sphere appearing uniformly and brilliantly luminous, matching the perceived brightness of the Sun's surface itself. The darkness we observe directly contradicts this expectation derived from naive assumptions about the universe's scale and age.
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