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The furthest stars we know of are not visible to the human eye. The red shift is so grate they can only be seen with infra-red detectors. It may simply be the microwave radiation in the background is the furthest stars ever detected. Maybe the light is so far shifted it is no longer light.
The idea still applies, it is just at the other end of the spectrum. What was once visible light may be radio waves. And if what we suspect is true, the radio waves representing red shifted starlight would still contain the tell-tale equivalently shifted spectrum.
Quote from: Bored chemist on 03/05/2009 19:14:43"There is only a finite amount of energy in a finite area of the universe."That's exactly my point.There's a finite amount of stuff in, for example, the solar system. If there are an infinite number of stars out there warming up that finite bit of stuff why isn't it infinitely hot?I think the problem with that logic is, there is also an infinite amount of space to be warmed. Those infinite number of stars are not just warming up that finite bit of space you've mentioned. They are also warming up the rest of the infinite space we call the universe. The result is just, the 2.7 degrees Kelvin we observe................Ethos
"There is only a finite amount of energy in a finite area of the universe."That's exactly my point.There's a finite amount of stuff in, for example, the solar system. If there are an infinite number of stars out there warming up that finite bit of stuff why isn't it infinitely hot?
We have equipment that can detect radiation below the visible spectrum. If the universe is ageless as we suspect that it is, much of the radiation will be below the visible spectrum. It will continue to exhibit its spectral structure however. That's how we know that the CMBR is not simply red-shifted starlight. It is black-body radiation. It is all very close to the same frequency.
It the universe were infinitely hot, where did that infinite energy come from? We suspect that the laws of thermodynamics hold. Overall mass-energy can not increase unless there is some rule that we do not yet know about.
Of course, unless you can sort out Olber's paradox you will still be forced to accept that the simple answer to the original question is no.
I think though that Olbers paradox can be disposed of. The amount of energy per unit of spacial area doesn't increase because the same amount of energy departs as arrives. There is not an infinite amount of energy available.
Xray sources shifted into the visible range is interesting. I wonder if we would recognize that if we saw it. They will exist if our eternal scheme is the reality.
If you postulate an infinite universe then you have to answer Olber's paradox.Please do so.
Olbers Paradox; but it is not so. All of the infinite universe schemes provide a natural disposition for infinite starlight. In the Tired Light scheme, for example, light becomes mass as it is absorbed. It is then re-radiated. We observe this as the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Now that is an interesting thought. Would they not appear as stars?