| Perhaps the picture to the right will make Olber's Paradox clearer. Nearly everywhere in the picture we see the surface of a saguaro cactus - some very near, some far, but always saguaros. In a few places we do see sky, but only because the hillside we are looking up along has an end. If it went on forever, more saguaros would eventually fill in even these small "saguaro holes." Olber's thought was that the Universe, if it went on forever, might be the same with regard to stars - everywhere we look, we should see the surface of a star, some near, some far, but always stars. (G. Rieke) |  |