The Olbers Conjecture, Revisited

John Michael Williams

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The Olbers Conjecture, Revisited

John Michael Williams

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Abstract

The Olbers conjecture, that under reasonable assumptions, light from the stars should sum at the Earth to make the sky bright at night, has been a subject of study since the early 19th century. It has been incorporated into some of modern cosmology. To complement Olbers's conjecture, we suggest a new calculation modelled as a projecture, in the form of an imaginary star probe. We find that there are not enough of stars. We also confirm Olbers's reasoning analytically. Note: The SSI-31 slides are numbered and presented at the end of the text; the slides include some results omitted from the text.

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John Michael Williams. 2003-07-05. The Olbers Conjecture, Revisited. https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0104067

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