Olbers' paradox

[ ohl-berz ]

/ ˈoʊl bərz /

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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.

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Origin of Olbers' paradox

First recorded in 1950–55; after H.W.M. Olbers

Words nearby Olbers' paradox

olallieberry, Öland, Olathe, Olav V, Olbers, Olbers' paradox, Olcott, old, old Adam, old age, old age pension

How to use Olbers' paradox in a sentence

But I feel like films are uniquely suited towards addressing paradox, recursiveness, and worlds-within-worlds.
Christopher Nolan Uncut: On ‘Interstellar,’ Ben Affleck’s Batman, and the Future of Mankind|Marlow Stern|November 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To appreciate the Palmer paradox, it's important to understand that Palmer's childhood and young adulthood were dichotomous.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up|Tom Boswell|September 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Maybe we need a new category other than theism, atheism or agnosticism that takes paradox and unknowing into account,” he writes.
Frank Schaeffer, the Atheist Who Believes in God|Nick Tabor|August 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But Washington was a prisoner to its paradox of an Iraq policy.
Why the White House Ignored All Those Warnings About ISIS|Eli Lake|July 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST

As a result of this paradox, the Iraq policy process ground to a halt at the very moment that ISIS was on the rise.
Why the White House Ignored All Those Warnings About ISIS|Eli Lake|July 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It offers, to those who see it aright, the most perplexing industrial paradox ever presented in the history of mankind.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
But in reality this paradox of value is the most fundamental proposition in economic science.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
It was the spiritual way, whose method and secret lie in that subtle paradox: Yield to conquer.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
But it was a strange paradox, that precisely the depth of his love for her made him willing to think of losing her.
Love's Pilgrimage|Upton Sinclair
But this very paradox leads to the real principle of generalization concerning the properties of numbers.
A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive|John Stuart Mill