For 10 points, name this paradox that asks why, if there are so many stars in the universe, the sky is dark at night.
In 1989, Edward Harrison published the definitive history of interpretations and solutions to this problem, whose explication is something of a personal crusade for Paul Wesson. Carl Charlier proposed a solution to this problem that works if the universe has fractal order with dimension less than two. The redshift due to the expansion of the universe adds a factor of 1 over r that partially resolves this problem but leaves a logarithmic divergence. The r-squared contribution of each shell in this problem is precisely canceled by the one-over-r-squared dropoff in (*) luminosity, so canonical solutions appeal to a finite size or age of the universe to limit the observable region. The naive statement of this problem argues that any line of sight from Earth will eventually reach a star. For 10 points, name this paradox that asks why, if there are so many stars in the universe, the sky is dark at night.
In 1989, Edward Harrison published the definitive history of interpretations and solutions to this problem, whose explication is something of a personal crusade for Paul Wesson.
Olbers' paradox