Why Is The Night Sky Dark? Olbers' Paradox

We become familiar to our environement over time and adapt to it. Very rarely do we question the things we see around us. I like to know new things but was really surprised when I read about Olbers' Paradox a few days ago. As a child I would look at the night sky and wonder about the stars. After learning that light takes a few minutes to reach us from our Sun, I was pretty sure the light from distant stars must take longer and the stars we see right now are the way they were many years ago. Asked some people my question but perhaps wasn't able to explain myself clearly or maybe they did not have the answer. Some years later saw a TV program which confirmed my thought. I never questioned why the night sky was dark. The teachers told us... at night we are away from the Sun and the other half has day and we night. That explanation was enough for me.I did not know plenty of scientists have spent a great deal of time on this trivial question.

Olber's paradox states that the Universe is not stable and infinitely old, as scientists once thought. If it were so, the night sky should blaze with the light of the stars that lie in all directions, even those far away.

Below are possible explanations for Olbers' Paradox :

* There's too much dust to see the distant stars.
* The Universe has only a finite number of stars.
* The distribution of stars is not uniform. So, for example, there could be an infinity of stars, but they hide behind one another so that only a finite angular area is subtended by them.
* The Universe is expanding, so distant stars are red-shifted into obscurity.
* The Universe is young. Distant light hasn't even reached us yet.

Well I don't know enough Maths, Physics, Cosmology or Astronomy to delve deep into the topic, found it interesting and worth sharing.

Sources :

Math UCR Edu
Arachnoid dot Com