The Universe Is Filled With Bright Stars, Yet Space Is Still Dark

The core of this puzzle lies in some simple facts about LIGHT and STARS. The intensity of light from any source decreases with the square of the distance. Double the distance to a star, and its brightness falls four-fold. But as we look further into space, we see ever more stars, and simple geometry shows that their numbers increase four-fold for each doubling of distance, cancelling out the effect of distance on their brightness. So in our infinite Universe, the infinite number of stars should lead to an infinitely bright night sky. So why doesn't it??
In the 1820's, German Astronomer WILHELM OLBERS suggested that cosmic dust blocked the light from the most distant stars, but that wouldn't work as the dust would heat up until it shone as brightly as the stars it masked. What many thought to be the real resolution emerged in 1929, when astronomers found that the universe is expanding, causing a gradual fading of light from the most distant stars. Yet as astrophysicist Dr. Eric Linder of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California points out, that still isn't enough:" It reduces the brightness by about a factor of two, but it cannot dim the paradoxical infinite brightness to a finite level. The real solution is that the Universe was created less then 14 billion years ago. There's only a finite range of times over which stars shine and contribute brightness to the sky," say Linder. " And it's not enough to fill the vast volume of space." So next time you stumble in the dark, you can blame the Universe. Star light, star not quite bright enough.