Paul Marmet
Abstract.
Heinrich
Olbers
studied
the
problem
of
a very large number of stars in
the universe. Consequently, he thought the night sky should be
bright.
This paradox can be solved by the fact that a large amount of
interstellar
matter (dust and gases) have been shown to be at 3 K.
Therefore, an
observer
having his eyes sensitive to the Planck radiation at 3 K would
see that
the night sky is bright, as expected by Heinrich Olbers.
Gerhard
Herzberg's
letter
(Science,
4
dec.,
p. 1341) recalled that, as
early as 1940, McKeller (1) derived from
the molecular
spectra of CN an excitation temperature of 3 K. There are
many
other
observations giving a similar temperature when there is no
internal
heating
in the molecular cloud. The interstellar gases absorb the
radiation
emitted by hot remote radiation energy sources: "the stars." It
has
also
been well known for many years that dark matter is an important
constituent
of the universe. Dark matter that includes particles of various
diameters
(for example, >1 mm) must also be at a temperature of about 3
K,
being also in thermal equilibrium with light emitted by stars.
Dark
matter
heated by the Sun in the Oort cloud is also calculated to have a
temperature
around 3 K (2). Blackbodies from all
galaxies must emit
3 K radiation because of their internal temperature.
There
is no way to imagine that blackbody radiation is not emitted
from
interstellar matter located in each galaxy. At the
corresponding
wavelength ( l » 1 mm), the
universe
must appear uniformly illuminated as in Heinrich Olbers'
model.
His
paradox no longer exists, since the sky is uniformly bright at
that
wavelength,
as observed by Penzias and Wilson (3).
Naturally
Olbers'
apparent paradox exists at visible wavelengths because then,
that
radiation is screened by dark matter. The natural emission
of
blackbody
radiation at 3 K from dark matter of billions of galaxies
distributed
over
the radius of the universe explains its high isotropy.
It
is generally believed that the 3 K cosmic primeval radiation (4)
is issued from far behind the interstellar matter of all
galaxies.
How can we recognize it? The 3 K radiation predicted from
the
cosmic
primeval big bang should not be isotropic (5).
Why
does
the matter in the universe not produce attenuation? Does
missing mass in galaxies appear invisible because it emits at 3
K?
And where is the blackbody radiation emitted by all the dark
matter of
the universe?
-
The problem of 3K cosmic
radiation
is also related to the problem of star
aberration.
-
References.
1. A. McKellar, Proc.
Astronom.
Sec. Pacific 52, 187 (1940); Publ. Dom. Astrophys. Obs. 7, 251
(1941).
2. G. Corriveau, personal
communication.
3. A. A. Penzias and R. W.
Wilson,
Astrophys.
J. 142, 419 (1965).
4. P. S. Henry, Science 207, 939
(1980).
5. D. T. Wilkinson, ibid 232,
1517
(1986).