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Top Document: [sci.astro,sci.astro.seti] Resources (Frequently Asked Previous Document: A.10 What are good books on astronomy (especially for beginners)? Next Document: A.12 How can I find an astronomy club? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Steve Willner <swillner@cfa183.harvard.edu> There are a few different ways to find astronomy clubs (listed in no particular order): * Check Sky & Telescope's annual listing of astronomy clubs and societies. * Contact a local university or college (if there is one near you). Often times if there's a department of physics and/or astronomy, somebody within it may know of a local club. * Contact local science museums, planetaria, or other similar organizations. * Check the AstroWeb listing, see the FAQ "What are good Net sites for astronomy info and images?" User Contributions:Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:Top Document: [sci.astro,sci.astro.seti] Resources (Frequently Asked Previous Document: A.10 What are good books on astronomy (especially for beginners)? Next Document: A.12 How can I find an astronomy club? Part0 - Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: T. Joseph W. Lazio <jlazio@patriot.net>
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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with stars, then every direction you looked would eventually end on
the surface of a star, and the whole sky would be as bright as the
surface of the Sun.
Why would anyone assume this? Certainly, we have directions where we look that are dark because something that does not emit light (is not a star) is between us and the light. A close example is in our own solar system. When we look at the Sun (a star) during a solar eclipse the Moon blocks the light. When we look at the inner planets of our solar system (Mercury and Venus) as they pass between us and the Sun, do we not get the same effect, i.e. in the direction of the planet we see no light from the Sun? Those planets simply look like dark spots on the Sun.
Olbers' paradox seems to assume that only stars exist in the universe, but what about the planets? Aren't there more planets than stars, thus more obstructions to light than sources of light?
What may be more interesting is why can we see certain stars seemingly continuously. Are there no planets or other obstructions between them and us? Or is the twinkle in stars just caused by the movement of obstructions across the path of light between the stars and us? I was always told the twinkle defines a star while the steady light reflected by our planets defines a planet. Is that because the planets of our solar system don't have the obstructions between Earth and them to cause a twinkle effect?
9-14-2024 KP