by Ann » Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:43 am
Hmmm, that reminds me of Olbers' paradox, Tony Licata. Why is it dark at night, if the universe is infinite and infinitely full of stars?
Well... because... the universe is not infinite, certainly not infinitely old (only 14 billion years!) and because it is not infinitely full of stars, either. I have seen estimates of how many galaxies there are in the universe (40 billion? A hundred billion? More?), and you could use that to estimate the number of stars, I would think.
Check out this wikpedia entry. It is quite nice, I think:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers'_paradox
As for your image, remember that most stars are little red dwarfs that are so faint, so faint. Don't forget that the star which is closest to our Solar System (except the Sun, which is, however, very very much a
part of our solar system) is Proxima Centauri. This ridiculously dim li'l red runt is so measly that not only can't you see it with the naked eye even though it is closer to us than any star that we are not orbiting, but you can't see it with a pair of binoculars, either! You actually need a
telescope to see the very closest star apart from the Sun!
So how many stars are there in your image? You mean the stars you have detected and recorded in your image or the stars that are actually there in that direction of the sky, including all the li'l Proxima Centauris?
Anyway, that is a great image of yours! There are sure very many stars in it! And their colors are delightful, too.
Ann
Hmmm, that reminds me of Olbers' paradox, Tony Licata. Why is it dark at night, if the universe is infinite and infinitely full of stars?
Well... because... the universe is not infinite, certainly not infinitely old (only 14 billion years!) and because it is not infinitely full of stars, either. I have seen estimates of how many galaxies there are in the universe (40 billion? A hundred billion? More?), and you could use that to estimate the number of stars, I would think.
Check out this wikpedia entry. It is quite nice, I think:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olbers'_paradox[/url]
As for your image, remember that most stars are little red dwarfs that are so faint, so faint. Don't forget that the star which is closest to our Solar System (except the Sun, which is, however, very very much a [i]part[/i] of our solar system) is Proxima Centauri. This ridiculously dim li'l red runt is so measly that not only can't you see it with the naked eye even though it is closer to us than any star that we are not orbiting, but you can't see it with a pair of binoculars, either! You actually need a [i]telescope[/i] to see the very closest star apart from the Sun!
So how many stars are there in your image? You mean the stars you have detected and recorded in your image or the stars that are actually there in that direction of the sky, including all the li'l Proxima Centauris?
Anyway, that is a great image of yours! There are sure very many stars in it! And their colors are delightful, too.
Ann