Covers a lot here, just to clarify (and he most certainly knows this) that the cosmic background radiation is everywhere...not just far away. He probably meant that, but it isn't what he seems to say towards the summery at the end. That is, of course, is if my understanding of the CMBR is correct. Anyone care to clarify further?

He doesn't say that CBR is only far away. He says that if you look in the space between the stars, there's still light, even there. That's to say, only the CBR exists in those directions, and only CBR light comes in from that distance away. The wording could have been better for people who don't know this, as it could sound like it's a ring of light that doesn't come to us, as opposed to light that does come to us, but so shifted that we can only see it with microwave telescopes.>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

Covers a lot here, just to clarify (and he most certainly knows this) that the cosmic background radiation is everywhere...not just far away. He probably meant that, but it isn't what he seems to say towards the summery at the end. That is, of course, is if my understanding of the CMBR is correct. Anyone care to clarify further?

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by dystopianfuturetoday.

Nice far more simplified explanation than http://videosift.com/video/Why-is-the-Sky-Dark-at-Night gives. I think this one is better for friends/family who aren't into science as much, as the other video seems it is aimed more for people who understand more and have a stronger interest in astronomy. I think I'll have to share this one...

So maybe I'm missing something obvious that should answer this question but I'll ask it anyway. So if the night sky should be light everywhere we look, and the reason it isn't is because it's outside our visible spectrum, why do the pictures taken using an infrared camera still show darkness behind the stars it can see? Why isn't the CBR showing up brightly on the infrared pictures?

Because the light has shifted from visible through infrared to microwave due to the expansion of the universe since the Big Bang, 1100 times stretched, according to RFlag's link starting at around 3:11.>> ^SWBStX:

So maybe I'm missing something obvious that should answer this question but I'll ask it anyway. So if the night sky should be light everywhere we look, and the reason it isn't is because it's outside our visible spectrum, why do the pictures taken using an infrared camera still show darkness behind the stars it can see? Why isn't the CBR showing up brightly on the infrared pictures?

>> ^messenger:

Because the light has shifted from visible through infrared to microwave due to the expansion of the universe since the Big Bang, 1100 times stretched, according to RFlag's link starting at around 3:11.>> ^SWBStX:
So maybe I'm missing something obvious that should answer this question but I'll ask it anyway. So if the night sky should be light everywhere we look, and the reason it isn't is because it's outside our visible spectrum, why do the pictures taken using an infrared camera still show darkness behind the stars it can see? Why isn't the CBR showing up brightly on the infrared pictures?



Ah, clearly I should have checked out that link. Thanks! Time for a microwave camera!